


Spaceships and Septic Eyes

by arc852, HiddenDreamer67



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: AU, Aliens, Alternate Universe, Crash Landing, Exploration, GT, Gen, Giant/Tiny, Probably fluff and angst, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-12
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-10-03 16:13:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 26
Words: 48,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10251176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arc852/pseuds/arc852, https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenDreamer67/pseuds/HiddenDreamer67
Summary: Mark, part of a high end space program, is on an exploration mission when things take a turn for the worse. He crashes on an unknown planet, where everything looks the same as on earth, except for one tiny detail.Everything is huge.





	1. Came to space to have a good time...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...and Mark's honestly feeling so attacked right now.

“Karen, initiate autopilot.” Mark used the voice command installed in his ship. Standing up and stretching his arms above his head. “Set course for coordinates 4.00, 3500, 1000.1 set H.”

“ _Yes, Captain Mark._ ” His computer Karen confirmed his request. Good- that should keep the ship on target while Mark went to get a little shut-eye. Technically Mark wasn’t supposed to leave his post while the ship was in motion, but Mark saw no harm in letting Karen take over this one time. Mark retired to his chambers and closed his eyes. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Karen was piloting his little cruiser deep into sector 7 quadrant 4B, uncharted territory. The module behind him to his left was recording his findings through every empty light-year traveled. Mark failed to hold in a large yawn. It seemed like this quadrant would be just as empty as those he had previously traveled. While Mark had always adored the idea of space travel as a kid, he didn’t find out until later just how boring it could be. Space was just so huge! What were the chances of a little human like him ever going to find something exciting? The statistics were not in his favor.

Mark jumped out of bed at the sound of the emergency alarms going off, only to fall flat on his face in his haste.

“Karen, what’s going on?” Mark asked urgently, rushing back to the cockpit while the lights flashed red and the alarms continued to blare. Mark was still a bit dazed. How long was he out?

“ _Captain Mark._ ” Karen’s voice caught him up to speed. “ _The ship is experiencing some interference._ ”

“What interf- oh no.” Mark didn’t need to ask Karen to know what was causing the problem. A planet, so large that Mark couldn’t see the whole thing, blocked the view of what was just empty space when he went to sleep.

“Karen, engage all the thrusters!”

“ _Thrusters already engaged._ ” Karen informed him. Mark cursed to himself. He tugged up on the wheel, but it was no use. He was no match for the gravitational pull of the planet. As the planet’s green surface grew rapidly in his vision, Mark realized his efforts were futile. Ditching the attempts of pulling out, Mark rushed back to gather the emergency survival kits and braced for impact.

\-----------------------------

Jack was washing the dishes of all things when he heard it. It was faint and if he had had the water running then he would have never heard it. The sound itself was strange, but if he had to guess he would say it was the sound of something hitting the ground. Maybe a bird or something?

He put down the dish and sponge, drying his hands. His curiosity was peaked. Living near the woods like this, away from everyone else, not a lot of things happened. Even if it turned out to be a bird, at least it was something for him to do. Better than doing the dishes anyway.

He quickly slipped on his shoes and a jacket before heading outside. He looked around the immediate area, but when nothing caught his eye he continued deeper into his back woods. Keeping his eyes to the ground. The sound had been distant, but it couldn’t have been that far!

\-----------------------------

Mark groaned, rubbing the back of his neck. It felt sore, but he thanked his lucky stars nothing felt broken. The lights were all out, and it was dead silent. “Status update, Karen.” There was no response. “Karen?” Mark tried again, but it was no use. Karen was gone.

Mark sighed, knowing he’d have to venture out into the possibly hostile nature of this unknown planet if he had any hope of repairing his ship. It took Mark a good while to pry the doors open with the automatic locks offline. Indigenous plant life greeted him, similar to the texture and look of grass on Earth but reaching up to his chest. He began to venture out, looking around. The entire scene reminded him of Earth, but on a far larger scale. He put his hand up against what seemed to be a tree trunk, but craning his neck up Mark couldn’t see the top.

“What is this place?” Mark muttered to himself. Just then, the ground began to tremble. The trembles increased in magnitude like an earthquake. What gigantic beast was approaching? Frightened, Mark sought cover beneath the tree roots and looked back at his ship.

\----------------------------

Jack had been right in his assumption. He had only ventured maybe a couple hundred feet before finding what he assumed to be the thing that had made the noise.

Jack’s eyes widened at the sight of the small hunk of metal that seemed to be halfway into the dirt floor. He hesitated for only a moment before stepping closer and dropping to his knees. He wiped the dirt off the front with his sleeve, his reflection now looking back at him through the glass covering the entire front of it. As Jack continued to inspect it, he realized It couldn’t have been a drone, like he had first thought. At least, not a drone that Jack had ever seen before.

He picked it up out of the little crater it had created, gasping in shock at how heavy it was. It was small, but it weighed quite a few more pounds then one might think. Even so, he lifted it up to his face, trying to look through the glass to see the inside.

There seemed to be a little seat, with a tiny wheel and buttons. Jack’s mind immediately went to the thought of it being some sort of model ship. Like, maybe a model of one of those cool ships from those space movies that everyone liked. Because what else could it be, if not that or a drone? Another question popped into Jack’s mind, where had it come from? He lived a good few miles away from anyone else. Not only that, but if this thing had crashed, it meant that it had been flying somehow.

Jack had way too many questions and no answers, but he found himself smiling regardless. He had just stumbled onto a mystery of sorts. A mystery that he was going to get to the bottom of. He stood up, the model or whatever it was in his hands. He scanned the forest floor once more for any parts he had missed and when nothing jumped out at him he turned around and headed back to his little cabin.


	2. Shedding some light on the subject

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack investigates his new toy and Mark panics.

Mark could only watch in horror as the giant, humanoid alien took his vessel back into its dwelling, carrying it as easily as if it were a toy. Mark needed that! Desperately, Mark sprinted after the being once it was indoors. He made a mental note to stay out of sight from that monster, not knowing if it was hostile or friendly. All Mark knew was that without that ship, there was no way he was getting off this planet alive.

Mark held his breath next to the door, listening to see if the giant was lying in wait. When he heard no noise, Mark cautiously began to army crawl through the crack beneath the doorway. It was a tight fit, but Mark made it. Reaching back, he dragged his survival kit through the crack as well. He never knew when the contents would come in handy.  

The giant being was across the vast room, standing at what looked to be a table half his height. Mark gazed around at his surroundings, surprised at just how human the alien dwelling looked. Mark wasn’t sure from his perspective, but it seemed to be an average kitchen.

\-------------------

  
 Jack entered his house, ignoring the still dirty dishes and placed the ship looking thing on his kitchen table. He stretched out his arms after setting it down, the thing weighed a good few pounds and even carrying it the short way back had made his arms start to hurt. Maybe that was a sign he needed to get out more. Well, either way he had bigger problems to deal with at the moment.

 It was time to crack this thing open. After all, he wouldn’t get anywhere by just looking at the outside. He started in the front, looking at the glass. He looked around the edges, trying to see if the front could be lifted, but to no avail. He lightly knocked on the glass, causing it to crack even more.

\-----------

Mark winced, hearing sounds of destruction coming from far above his head. His poor ship... Mark could only hope whatever wreckage the alien left behind could still be salvaged.

Keeping a careful eye on him, Mark began to sneak along the edge of the wall. He felt uneasy being out in the open, but luckily the cabinets provided the slightest bit of cover so it was unlikely the being would see him given its height.

\----------------------

“Whoops,” Jack said, and took his hand away. The glass had already been cracked to begin with and now Jack had just made it worse. He didn’t want to break the thing. At least, not anymore than it already was. Cause by the looks of things it had already taken quite the beating when it crashed. He bit his lip and moved away from the front, inspecting the rest. He thumbed the side until he felt a slight indent. A door maybe? Taking a closer look, Jack could just make out the lines of a sliding door.

Smiling, Jack dug his nail into the line and tried to force it open. It seemed stuck at first, but it very quickly gave in to his strength. The door slid open and Jack hollered in victory. He bent down, not wanting to lift the ship again, and looked through the door with one eye.

 

“Woah…” Jack breathed out. It was a little dark, but from what he could see, it was almost like a little den. He could just make out some sort of desk and maybe a chair? There were some other shapes that might have been some sort of fridge or something and what seemed like tiny little papers littered the floor, but it was too freakin’ dark to really get a good look at anything.

Huffing, Jack stood and looked around the immediate area, trying to figure out where he kept his lighters. He groaned slightly when he remembered they were all the way in his room, since the last time he used it was when the power had gone out last winter and he had never bothered to bring it back out. Sighing, he got up and went to go fetch one, hoping he could remember were in his room it was.

 

\---------------------

The ground trembled with the being’s every step, causing Mark to shake at his core. He worried that he had been spotted from the corner of its eye, but instead the alien left the room. Mark waited a moment to see if the giant would reappear. When a minute passed and still nothing happened, Mark decided now was his best chance.

Mark dashed across the kitchen floor, heart racing. When he reached the table leg he quickly pulled his climbing picks from the survival kit. With Mark’s upper arm strength, he stabbed the picks into the wood and used them to climb up quickly but carefully. A fall from this height would be fatal.

“Glad I’m not afraid of heights.” Mark chuckled darkly to himself, still not daring to look down. Reaching the top, he pulled himself up onto the table top. He groaned, looking at the state of his ship. The glass was covered in spiderweb cracks and the side door looked to have been jammed open, but otherwise the ship looked relatively okay.

“Now what?” Mark asked himself. This was the alien’s home and it was likely to be back soon. Mark still didn’t have the materials necessary to fix the engine and fly off. There was only one desperate choice left- the backup communications system. If Mark could send out even the slightest message, there would still be a chance of him getting off this planet alive.

 

\-------------------------------

 

Jack was basically turning his room upside down looking for his stupid lighters. He knew they were small, but it couldn’t be that hard to find! They had to be somewhere. He double checked in his bedside table drawers, hoping they would just magically show up. They didn’t, however, and he closed them rather harshly.

As he looked around his room, a thought came to him and he blinked. Suddenly getting down on all fours, he looked under the bed. Near the back wall was a slight glow.

“Finally!”

 

\-------------

Mark pulled out the flashlight from his kit, glancing around. The place was a mess, both from the crash and being tumbled about by a giant. It was difficult to navigate his way back to the control center. Mark ducked down, checking under the pilot’s seat. Mark breathed a sigh of relief to see the little green light of the com system was on, but there were a few golden sparks flying off that indicated it was in less than perfect condition. Mark turned it on, but received nothing but static.

“C’mon…” Mark urged the machine on, rapidly mashing buttons and fiddling with the exposed wires. Mark nearly cried with joy when the shaky messenger began to send a signal.

“Ethan!” Mark spoke quickly, addressing his team in the message. “You’ve got to listen.” The signal cut out for a moment. Mark cursed silently in his head, wishing for once technology would work for him. He could feel the floor begin to shake, indicating the giant was coming back. Hitting the side of the box, the machine came back online.

“Lock on to my coordinates.” Mark instructed, trying to speak slower as the panic built inside. “The ship crashed and I’m stranded. Send help. It’s a giant planet, possibly hostile. There’s a giant who found my ship and I don’t know how long I can stay in hiding. Karen’s down. Hurry, before-” The message cut off again. Mark would have tried for a third time, but by then the ship shook so much that he knew it was time to go. Surely by now the giant was just outside. Keeping low so as not to be visible through the glass, Mark began to sneak back to try and hide in his chambers, hoping to wait the alien out. The passageway was blocked by a knocked-over cabinet, which Mark carefully slid over. He crept back past the den through which he had entered.

“What the…?” Mark whispered in confusion as a cube the size of his head was tossed into the room through the still open doorway. It was light blue in color and seemed to glow. Just as Mark was deciding whether to investigate or bolt the other direction, the cube seemed to explode and fill the room with a bright light. Mark covered his eyes, blinking back spots as his vision adjusted. Turning to the doorway, Mark was truly a deer caught in headlights when he spotted a wide blue eyeball staring right into his soul.

“Uh….hi.” Mark gulped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are so thankful for the positive feedback and support on this story. There's already fanart from the amazing ArtOrBust over on Deviantart! How crazy is that?!  
> Link to ArtOrBust's fanart: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Spaceships-and-Septiceyes-668892907


	3. Get A Grip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Basically, everyone panics.

Ethan ran through the halls, heartbeat pounding and blue hair swept back in a panic. He came to the door he was looking for, pounding in the code on the side like his life depended on it. His hand shook, causing him to have to re-enter the code, but eventually it opened. He ran in, all heads turning towards him with confusion and wide eyes.

“Message...Mark...ship! We have to…!” His panicked mind wouldn’t allow him to form complete sentences.

“Whoa, Ethan, calm down!” Tyler, the leader, came over to calm Ethan down with a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “What’s wrong?” Ethan took a deep breath.

“I think you need to see the message Mark just sent me.” Ethan said.

“Alright.” Tyler agreed, gesturing for Amy and Kathryn to follow as well. “Let’s all hear it.” Ethan nodded and led the way to his station, walking a little faster than normal. He punched in his own code and the doors opened, revealing a large monitor with a message already pulled up on it. Ethan took a seat and the others crowded around him.

“He sent me two messages and they’re little hard to make out, but…” He trailed off and pushed play on the first message.

“ _Ethan! You’ve...listen._ ” End of first message. Ethan didn’t wait to look at the team’s faces of confusion, playing the second message wordlessly.

“ _... coordinates…. ship crashed ... stranded. Send help. .. planet... hostile. There’s a giant ... found my ship ...don’t know ... stay in hiding. .... Hurry, before-_ ” End of second message.

“Amy, ready the second ship.” Tyler decided immediately. “Ethan, lock onto Mark’s last known coordinates. Kathryn, try to decode the rest of the message and get the equipment on board. Let’s bring him home.”

\---------------------------------------

Jack could only stare in shock at what looked to be a tiny person. He couldn’t have been more than a couple inches tall. And he could talk. Slowly, his shocked expression changed into a wide grin.

“You’re so small,” he said in awe. “And you can talk!” He practically yelled the last bit. He couldn’t help it.

Mark winced at the sound of the creature’s loud voice, covering his ears. With his fight-or-flight instincts kicking in, Mark chose flight. He rushed further down the passageway, hoping to hide in his personal chambers. Back there, the creature wouldn’t be able to reach him. Mark would be relatively safe...hopefully.

Jack saw the tiny man start to run away, deeper into the ship. Not wanting him to get away and without thinking, Jack took the ship in his hands and started tilting it towards him. Hoping to get the guy out.

“Whoa!” Mark yelped, desperately trying to cling to the edge of the door as the floor began to tilt, his entire ship shaking more than it would in an asteroid field. Mark ducked as bits of scrap metal tumbled past his head. Losing his grip, Mark slid down the angled floor right past the opening and back into the cockpit.

Jack could once again see the man and smiled to himself. All that was left to do was bring him over to the doorway and out into the open. Jack tilted it again, farther this time, but was surprised by a sudden flashing red light coming from within the ship.

“ _Warning: exterior, immediate threat detected._ ” The feminine robotic voice spoke aloud as the emergency flashing red lights once again went off.

“Karen?” Mark tilted his head in confusion, a bit dazed from hitting his head against the pilot’s wheel. “You’re alive?”

“ _Initiating defense system mechanics._ ” Karen ignored Mark’s question, being only a prerecorded voice for emergency situations. “ _Deterrence shields engaged._ ”

“Whoa!” Jack dropped the ship as a metal coating suddenly started coming out of the top. The side that Jack had been holding to tilt the ship dropped the few inches and Jack watched as metal coverings overtook the ship. It happened fast and soon the ship was unrecognizable, looking like a metal cocoon. Jack blinked, a questioning look appearing on his face. He tapped the metal.

“Hello?” Jack called out, wondering if the little guy was the one who had activated whatever had just happened.

Mark was caught off guard as he was slammed painfully into the floor of the ship when it was dropped. He groaned, slowly pulling himself off the ground. Mark looked up at the windows, only to see them barred by large slates of metal. All this shaking and prodding of the giant must have triggered the automatic shields.

“Thank god…” Mark sighed in relief. Finally life seemed to be going his way. Mark rolled his arms, testing out his various body parts for bruises or broken bones. While he felt sore, his vital organs all seemed intact and his skeleton was in one piece. Mark took a deep breath, only to be filled with dread at a sudden realization. Without the main power source intact, the shields’ oxygen pumps would remain offline. Though the metal would keep him safe from the alien, Mark had just been sentenced to death by suffocation by his own ship.

“No!” Mark began to race around, looking for a tool to break through the shields to keep some air flowing. All his tools powerful enough to make a hole required electricity, a resource Mark desperately lacked. He searched through the emergency kit. Nope, a knife wasn’t getting through that solid metal. In desperation Mark began to pound on the outer walls, knowing death was eminent. His only hope now was that the giant would be able to break through his defenses fast enough so that Mark would get some air.

Jack blinked as he heard banging coming from inside. It was fast and panicked, making Jack feel dread well up in him. Something must be wrong. Forget about not wanting to break the ship, he had to get the guy out of there!

“Sam!” He called out. In his room, a small circular robot reacted to his voice, turning on. The front part opened, revealing it to look like a giant eyeball. A giant, green eyeball. It blinked and made a sound similar to a squeak. It floated into the air and looked around for its owner.

“Sam!” It perked up and flew into the kitchen, seeing Jack, he made a happy whirring type sound. Jack tried to offer a smile to his little robot buddy, but knew they needed to act fast, if the ever growing banging was anything to go by.

“Sam, buddy. I need you to break apart this ship. Without hurting the guy inside,” Sam tilted his head as its orders were given. It made another happy sound, confirming it understood and moved over to the ship. Sam’s eyeball grew wide and a green light swept over the ship. It only took a second to scan and once it was done, Sam knew where the guy was and moved accordingly, so the guy wouldn’t be hurt.

Its eyes closed, this time a red light could be seen pouring out. Jack stood back, knowing Sam was charging up.

“Watch out!” He yelled out a warning, even though he knew it wouldn’t hit him. Sam’s eye opened and a beam of red light shot out, hitting the metal and sending sparks flying. As the beam moved, Jack could see the ship being torn apart.

“It’s working!” Jack yelled happily.

Mark couldn’t help but let out a startled scream as a red laser light went right through the metal on his left, too close for comfort. Did this giant alien seriously have some kind of advanced laser cutters? What kind of strange planet was this land of giants? Mark backed away quickly into the passageway as he watched the laser cut through his defenses like plastic. It was a bit unnerving, knowing Mark’s species literally had nothing strong enough to protect them from this race, but at least he wasn’t going to suffocate anymore.

“Yeah, now I’m just going to be put at the mercy of a being a hundred times my size and strength.” Mark spoke aloud to himself, trying to take some deep breaths to keep from panicking. “That’s much better.” The walls of metal fell off along with the vast majority of the front of the ship, leaving Mark fully exposed. Mark looked at the charred remnants of his control station. Whatever was left of his precious communications system must be destroyed beyond repair by now.

Sam stopped as the walls of metal dropped. It turned to Jack, making a happy whirring as if to say ‘I did it!’ Jack smiled and pet Sam.

“Good job buddy,” He looked at the ship and saw the tiny person, standing there and staring at his now broken ship. He instructed Sam to stay with a simple raised hand and walked over so he was now in front of the ship’s new opening, staring down at the tiny guy. His smile was still very present.

“Hey little guy, don’t worry, you’re all right,” Jack said as he reached a hand towards him. His fingers grazed his side and back as they wrapped around his frame. Jack could only stare in awe as his hand closed around him, the feeling alone was like nothing Jack had felt before. Even holding something like a mouse was nothing in comparison to this. His hand lifted into the air and settled in front of his face.

“You are so cool.” Jack chuckled.


	4. Baby Sam is Best Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is caught by a curious Jack, and Sam is adorable.

Mark squirmed, unable to escape the giant’s grip without taking a few dozen foot fall to the table below. He had been frozen in fear as those tree-sized fingers came and plucked him from the ground like an action figure, only to be brought face to face with the beast. The look on its face was unnerving, like that of a kid who just learned how to kill ants with a magnifying glass. Mark hoped he wasn’t the ant.

“Uh, thanks.” Mark decided to respond, hoping this alien would be more merciful to an intelligent, cooperative tiny being. He couldn’t seem to stay still. The feeling of giant fingerprints all over him was giving him goosebumps.

Jack's’ eyes lit up when he heard the guy talk again. It was interesting, the guy was so tiny, but his voice was deeper than his own. It made him chuckle again and he brought his hand down to chest level. Feeling his squirms and wanting a better look at him, Jack opened his hand. Allowing him to sit in his palm.

“You’re so adorable!” Jack couldn’t contain the excitement he felt. He grabbed one of the guy’s hands in a gentle grip between his thumb and forefinger, amazed by the tiny fingers and hand and _everything_.

“Do you have a name, little guy?” Jack asked, his wide smile still present.

“My name is Mark.” Mark said, trying to ignore his racing heart as the giant gripped his arm between two fingers. At any moment he could break Mark’s arm into tiny splinters with very little effort. “Mark Fischbach, primary captain of Team Markiplier.” Mark took another deep breath. _Just breathe, Mark. You’re not dead yet._ “What about you?”

Jack tilted his head at the title given to him, confused. But ignored it for the moment in favor of having learned his name.

“Mark,” he tried the name on his tongue. It suited him, in all honesty.

“You can call me Jack.” He said, answering the question thrown back at him. He still held Mark’s arms and was still too fascinated to let go just yet. He moved them up and down, making sure he wasn’t pulling too hard.

“What’s this about being a captain?”

Mark winced, more out of fear than actual pain as ‘Jack’ moved his arm around. Mark prayed that Jack didn’t get a sudden urge to pop it out of its socket.

“I’m the main pilot on call for exploration expeditions and other missions.” Mark explained, looking away from his arm and the giant fingers, but it was literally impossible to look at anything besides Jack. The guy was just too big. “I fly my ship over there, ‘ _Bubblebutt_ ’, around the galaxy, mapping out space for human intelligence purposes. I crash landed on your planet when the gravitational pull proved too strong for _Bubblebutt.”_

Jack’s eyes widened at Mark’s explanation. He finally let go of Mark’s arm, and stared at him for a moment before laughing.

“You’re telling me that you fly around _in space_ and explore?! Little dude, that is literally impossible, but I appreciate the story. Also Bubblebutt? Humans? You’re totally just pulling these names out of thin air.” Jack’s laughter died down to snickering and he raised Mark up again. Turning his hand slightly in order to study him more.

“But seriously, what are ya?”

 

“Er, no.” Mark corrected him. Mark could understand that Jack knew nothing about humans, considering Mark was probably the first to ever find this planet, but that would make his explanation a lot harder. Not to mention, that meant it was still undetermined whether Jack’s species was hostile towards humankind.

“I am what is called a human.” Mark explained. At least his arm was finally free. “I named my spaceship _Bubblebutt_ , but yeah it is a little silly. I know it must seem strange from your perspective, but it is possible for that, ahem, ‘tiny’ ship to fly through space. Several hundreds of thousands just like it are traversing the stars everyday. Humans have been traveling up there for centuries.”

 

Jack processed the information. His smile replaced with a look of disbelief. His head tilted to the side.

“Not sure I still believe ya. Considering we’ve determined space travel can never be achieved.” He shrugged and then his brain stuck with a thing Mark had said.

“Wait. Are you saying that there are more of you little guys running around!” Jack’s smile returned and he was suddenly wondering if any of them were close by.

“No!” Mark stopped Jack’s train of thought quickly. Mark was thankful that at least being alone here meant that none of his team was in immediate danger. “No, I came alone. It was a solo mission.” Mark decided to drop the issue of space travel, knowing Jack wouldn’t  believe him, but what was all this nonsense about space travel being impossible? Where else would his ship have come from? From his current observations, this giant race didn’t seem very intelligent.

Jack was slightly disappointed at the fact there wasn’t anyone else, but his smile returned not a second later. He wasn’t sure what he would do if there were more ‘humans’ anyway. He heard a sound coming from close by and turned to see that Sam had gotten closer and was now hovering over his shoulder to get a better look at Mark. Its body was tilted and a confused, curious noise escaped him.

“Sam, no!” Jack ordered. Sam was a gentle robot for the most part, but it was also young. He didn’t want anything to happen.

Mark couldn’t help but stare at the strange floating green eyeball staring right back at him just over Jack’s shoulder. It was clearly mechanical, but still gave the appearance of a living creature. A strange fusion of technology and life, perhaps? Maybe Mark underestimated this planet too soon.

“Uh, what is that?” Mark pointed to the green machine, not sure if it was hostile. Jack’s order for it to stay away only furthered Mark’s fears.

Jack’s attention turned away from Sam, who didn’t seem to be listening to him, and back onto Mark. He smiled, always happy to show off his buddy.

“This is Sam! It’s my little companion robot! Actually, It helped get you out of your ship thing.” Jack said proudly, as if Sam were his child. Sam turned away slightly, as if embarrassed by Jack’s praise.

“How you doin’?” Mark greeted nervously, giving the robot a small wave.

Sam seemed to get over its embarrassment quite quickly and squeaked in response. Jack chuckled and pet Sam with his free hand.

“How about you go and rest up? That laser must have taken a lot out of you.” Sam squeaked again and didn’t move for a second, before giving a sort of nod and returning to Jack’s room and its charging station. Jack watched it go and as soon as Sam was out of sight all his attention was once again focused on Mark.

“Sam’s still pretty new, so it has to charge pretty often, but I love’em,” he said, chuckling.

“Oh, yeah.” Mark shrugged as if this was normal, but his head was still trying to comprehend what exactly ‘Sam’ was. It was clearly sentient to some level, especially if Jack went so far as to name it. “So, did you build Sam, or…where did it come from?” He was so enraptured by this phenomenon that his fears were beginning to subside. Jack seemed reasonable, in the few minutes he had known the guy.

Discoveries and mysteries like Sam were exactly why Mark had wanted to go into space travel in the first place. Despite the danger, Mark was getting a bit of an adrenaline rush he had been missing for a long time when mapping out empty miles of space.

 

Jack shrugged and stared off to where Sam had gone. “Not actually sure, he was just sent to me out of the blue one day a couple of months ago. Not sure who sent it either, but I love my little buddy, so I don’t really care,” He shrugged again and he smiled back down at Mark.

“Now enough about Sam and I, I want to know more about you!” Jack said, once again acting like an overexcited puppy.

 


	5. Small Talk (heh, get it?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever get the feeling that you're being watched?

Jason blinked a few times, trying to process what he had just seen on the screen. “Hey, uh boss?” Jason looked over his shoulder at his superior. “You might want to take a look at this.”

Mason groaned and put down his coffee, coming over to see what on Bossatron Jason wanted to show him.

“What is it Jason?” He took a look at the screen. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Well, a few minutes ago this surveillance drone caught sight of…” Jason gulped, not wanting to sound stupid. “...a, uh tiny man?”

“A...tiny man?” Mason looked to the screen once more and finally saw what his second in command was talking about. There really was a tiny humanoid figure in one of their employees house. A smirk grew on his face.

“Keep an eye on them.”

**\------------------**

 

“Heh, I’m really not that interesting.” Mark chuckled nervously, not wanting to be the center of attention. He combed his hands through his hair. “I live with my dog Chica and work with four other people on my team. I hate the ocean and love space. That’s pretty much all there is to it, isn’t it?”

 

“Not interesting? You’re like, four inches tall!” Jack blinked processing the other information Mark had said.

“Wait, there are tiny dogs too?! That’s adorable!” Jack laughed, now picturing tiny dogs running all over the place and loving the idea of having like, twelve. Jack reached out with his other hand and ruffled Mark’s hair, surprised by how floofy it was.

“Come on, theres gotta be more to ya.”

 

Mark flinched as the giant finger touched his head, instincts kicking back in and making him jittery all over again. Mark clenched and unclenched his hands in his lap, trying to focus on anything besides the feel of Jack’s fingers on him.

“Well, there’s probably not any tiny dogs here, but on Earth where I come from everything is proportionate to my size.” Mark explained. “Really, I’m not that short, despite what everyone says- you’re planet is just on a much larger scale than mine!”

 

Jack frowned as he felt Mark flinch and took his finger away. Mark suddenly seemed fidgety and something about how he said that last sentence… He bit his lip.

“Hey, are you okay?”

 

“Uh…” Mark bit his lip as well. Of course he wasn’t a-okay, but how could he express his hesitation to being held by a giant alien without offending said giant alien? Was there some sort of social code that addressed these types of awkward situations? Mark didn’t know of one. Mark shifted a bit.

“I’m not a huge fan of heights.” Mark lied.  _ Specifically, heights where I’m held in the palm of a stranger’s hand far above the ground. _

 

Jack’s eyes widened. “Oh!” He felt bad now. He looked around the vicinity, before moving his hand to his chest and moving himself towards his living room. He spoke as he walked.

“I’m so sorry. I know how it feels, I’m scared of heights as well.”

 

“Uh-huh.” Mark made what he hoped was an agreeable noise, clinging desperately to Jack’s palm as the ‘ground’ beneath him shifted and dropped with every step. Oh god, this was much worse.

Jack chuckled and made his way over to the couch and coffee table. He took a seat and held Mark over his lap. He smiled.   


“Is that better?” Jack asked, not once thinking about putting him down, even if that was the obvious solution.

 

Mark looked down, only to regret it a moment later. He was still at least 40 feet off the ground, what was Jack thinking? Not to mention this did nothing to ease Mark’s feelings about being held.

“Uh, no, not really.” Mark admitted, still praying Jack would just hurry up and put him down.

 

Jack frowned and looked down, trying to decipher how far it would be for Mark. he winced when he got a semi-good idea. He finally looked toward the coffee table and with a little hesitation, deposited Mark onto it.

“How about that?” Jack asked, hoping the solid ground helped better.

 

“Better.” Mark could have cried in relief at the feeling of a solid base beneath his feet, even if he was still far above the true ground. Looking up, it was a bit disorienting to see just how big Jack truly was- even sitting down and with Mark on the table, Mark had to crane his neck just to meet his gaze. Mark backed up a few paces to ease the strain on his neck. “Thanks.”

 

Jack smiled. “Yeah, again sorry about that. Didn’t realize you were afraid of heights.” Although, somewhere in the back of Jack’s mind, it didn’t make much sense. But he ignored that part of his brain. He looked down at Mark, somehow more in awe at this perspective. It really showed how  _ tiny _ he was. Jack couldn’t help but reach out a hand and give him a gentle poke in the chest. It was still surreal to him.

“Woah!” Mark put his hands up, stumbling back a step as the ‘gentle’ poke nearly pushed him over. It made Mark nervous that Jack didn’t seem to know his own strength compared to humans yet. “Could you please, um, be careful?”

 

Jack, at least, looked sheepish when he realized he may have poked him a little harder than he thought. But was soon smiling again.

“Sorry, guess I don’t know my own strength.” He laughed it off and decided to not poke him anymore. Instead, Jack placed a finger on Mark’s back, rubbing gently. His way of trying to make up for the poke.

 

“Stop that!” Mark said a little too loudly, pulling away from the touch. “Look, I get this is all new and cool and I’m sure you’re curious, but I’m a fully grown man, not a puppy!” Mark calmed himself down with a deep breath, fingers drifting through his hair again. He had to be careful not to anger Jack, still not sure how dangerous Jack would be if he truly got enraged.

“Sorry.” Mark apologized. “I know you’re excited, but this is all a lot for me to take in. It’s my first time being on a giant planet, you know.”

 

Jack himself flinched back when Mark yelled. His hand dropped to the table and Jack suddenly felt very bad. Honestly he hadn’t really been thinking about Mark’s feelings in all of this, just his own curiosity. He supposed having a giant poke and prod at you was pretty intimidating now that he was thinking about it.

“Sorry, I--I didn’t realize.” Jack bit his lip, now that he was aware of Mark’s feelings, he could sense the fear behind his words.

“Ya don’t have to apologize. I’m not going to hurt ya.”

 

“Jack…” Mark pinched the bridge of his nose. Of all the things he thought he’d have to do today when he woke up, consoling a clingy giant was not one of them. “It’s okay. I know you wouldn’t hurt me.”  _ Lies. _ Mark didn’t know anything about Jack! 

Although based on his energetic curiosity and hurt puppy dog eyes, Mark was beginning to get a good feel for the kind of person Jack was- it seemed like Jack was telling the truth about meaning him no harm. Then again, Jack didn’t seem like the type to be careful. One wrong move and Mark would end up a splat on the ground, a crushed pile of bones, a-

Mark shook his head quickly, dispelling those disturbing images. It would do no good now to dwell in fear. If Mark was going to be stranded here, he’d probably need Jack’s help. This world wasn’t made for a human like him.

 

“Really, you’ve been more caring than i’d expect.” Mark tried to patch up their already shaky relationship. “Thank you for…”  _ Not killing me instantly?  _ “...getting me out of my ship.”  _ Even if it was your fault.  _ Mark decided to keep those more snide comments to himself.

“Well I wasn’t about to leave ya in there.” Jack chuckled sheepishly, rubbing a hand behind his neck. He still didn’t truly believe Mark’s words, but he wasn’t about to pry.

“What happened anyway?” Jack asked, curious about why the ship had suddenly been covered in metal.

 

“Well, it’s this device on my ship meant to protect the people inside when faced with danger.” Mark explained. “Meteor showers, perilous environments, hostile lifeforms, that sort of thing. It automatically deploys when it senses a threat. It probably sensed you tilting the ship around and activated itself to protect me.”

 

Jack winced and looked down at his lap, fidgeting with his hands. So, basically the whole thing was his fault. He felt like a jerk, having not noticed sooner.

“I’m sorry,” he seemed to be apologizing a lot right now. “I didn’t know.” Was that really any excuse though? Jack’s eyes widened as he realized how much of a threat he was in that moment.

“Oh gosh, I could have seriously hurt you!”

 

Mark chuckled awkwardly, rubbing at the back of his neck. He didn’t want to agree verbally, but Jack certainly wasn’t wrong.

‘Well, uh, you didn’t!” Mark tried to sound positive. “Really, it’s okay. In the end it all worked out. Without you and Sam I probably would have suffocated in there.” Mark smacked a hand over his mouth, wishing he hadn't said that last part. Maybe mentioning the danger Jack  _ had  _ put him in wasn’t his brightest idea.

“You could have suffocated?!” Jack yelled, eyes wide. No wonder Mark had been panicking inside the ship. He could have  _ literally died _ and it all would have been Jack’s fault. He put his head in his hands, really feeling like crap.

 

“Jack, I didn’t!” Mark reached out his hands as if to comfort the giant dude, before realizing he wasn’t in a position to help much. Being tiny kind of sucked. “Please, calm down dude. I didn’t suffocate. I didn’t even get close. We got off to a bit of a rocky start, man, but it’s okay. You’re fine, I’m fine, everything’s fine.”

Well everything was certainly not  _ fine-  _ Mark was still trapped on a giant planet with no salvageable means of escape- at least it was more fine than when he had first crashed. Kind of. His ship was more broken than before, but he did seem to have made a...friend? Someone who at least seemed to get very upset at the thought of Mark dead. That at least made Jack qualified to be a... close acquaintance.

 

Jack looked up, removing his head from his hands. He didn’t believe him when he said everything was fine, but he agreed that they’ve had a rocky start so far. Well, Jack was determined to change that. He gave a soft smile towards Mark.

“Maybe it would be best if we started over? Hi, my names Jack! What’s yours?” Jack asked and waved. 

“Hi, Jack!” Mark laughed, speaking in an overly enthusiastic tone. “I’m Mark! Nice to meet you!” He waved back as if any of this could be normal, even when pretending.

 

Jack’s smile grew when he heard Mark laugh and go along with his little idea. He couldn’t help but laugh as well. Maybe things would end up okay with them after all.

 


	6. 20 Questions, But Not Really...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack play a shorter version of the game, 20 questions.

A deep rumble erupted from Jack’s midsection and he placed a hand on his stomach. He rubbed the back of his neck and laughed, slightly embarrassed. 

“Hey, feel like eating? I’m starving.” It was getting kind of late and after everything that had happened, food had been the farthest thing from his mind.

Mark cringed at the sound, natural instincts giving him a jolt of fear when it was clear a ‘predator’ nearby was hungry. It was completely silly, as Mark knew Jack was too humane to actually eat a sentient being.

It still made Mark just about lose his appetite, though.

“I could eat.” Mark shrugged nonchalantly, unable to meet Jack’s gaze as his heartbeat tried to calm down.

“Cool! I think I might have some frozen pizza in the fridge I could heat up. Does that sound okay?” Jack asked. 

“Wait, you guys have pizza too?” Mark was surprised to hear such a familiar food on such an unfamiliar planet.

Jack blinked and smiled. “Of course we do. What kind of abominations would we be if we didn’t have pizza?” He chuckled. He actually hadn’t thought much on if Mark even knew what pizza was. It was obvious he did now, though.

“Alright, I guess I’ll be right back.” He hesitated before standing up. Looking down at Mark, he realized how low his coffee table actually was. It was a good reminder on how small he actually was. Not wanting to loom anymore than he already had, Jack was quick to head to the kitchen and get them their food.

Mark made a strange sound between a cough and clearing his throat to hide his discomfort with Jack’s full height. Mark refused to look directly at him, but even out of the corner of his eye the guy was intimidating. And Mark wasn’t even on the ground! He sighed, drumming his fingers on his leg while waiting for Jack to return.

The pizza took five minutes to cook, Jack’s thoughts going to the tiny man he had in his living room. When the oven beeped at him he was jolted out of those thoughts and went to take out the pizza. He stared at the pizza for a good minute, thinking about how he was going to do this so mark could eat it easily. He hummed and got out a knife, cutting the very edge of a slice of pizza and putting it on its own plate. With that done he put two slices for himself on his plate and carried them out into the living room. He was relieved when he saw Mark was still there.

“Dinner’s here!” Jack was quick to sit down and he placed the two plates of pizza on the table. Mark’s plate was placed closest to him. “Enjoy!”

Mark stared down ‘his’ plate, which was at least twice his size and the sliver of pizza longer than his body. While it was clear Jack had taken care to get Mark a smaller piece, the food was still too thick for Mark to simply pick up and eat with his hands. Not to mention, Mark didn’t want to dive in and make a mess of himself like a neanderthal. Of course, he could use his knife...

Mark smacked himself in the forehead when he realized the emergency kit had been left behind in the remains of the ship when Jack, uh, rescued him. 

“Hey, Jack?” Mark spoke up, knowing he had no chance of getting that kit back on his own.

Jack was in the middle of taking a bite when Mark spoke up. “What?” he tried asking, though it sounded a lot more garbled with his mouth full.

Mark tried to ignore the incredibly disgusting sounds of Jack chewing mouthfuls of food the size of a car far above his head.  
“There’s this emergency kit thing that I sort of need to uh, cut this down to size.” Mark rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, embarrassed to be caught so unprepared. “It’s back in my ship, if you could do me a solid and...go get it? Please?”

Jack swallowed, eyes wide. “Oh yeah, of course!” Looking back at the slice he had cut Mark in comparison to him he realized how off he had been. He stood and moved back to the kitchen and towards the broken ship still on the kitchen table. He looked inside, but realized he didn’t actually know what the kit looked like. Biting his lip he thought screw it and picked the entire thing up, heading back toward the living room.

He placed the ship on the coffee table a little ways away from them and their food and took back his seat on the couch once again.

“I wasn’t sure what it looked like, so…” he trailed off.

“Woah!” Mark put out his hands to steady himself as the table shook at little when the ship was set down. He glanced at the wreckage, surprised. “Okay, that works I guess.” Mark walked over to the front where it was still cut open. He shifted through the rubble and debris until he found the emergency kit. 

“Aha!” Pulling it out triumphantly, he grabbed the knife and began to saw bits of the pizza slice off in more manageable pieces. It was still messy and he couldn’t quite get all the layers of crust, cheese and sauce in one handheld section, but Mark was at least able to eat it.

Jack started back on his own pizza as he watched Mark with fascination. There was just something about watching the tiny movements. As he swallowed his next bite and idea came to him and he smiled.

“Hey! How about we play a little game?” 

“A game?” Mark tried to picture the two of them playing a board game, but all Mark could see was either him having to sprint around the board to try and play, or Jack using him as a game piece. Neither was very appealing to the tired astronaut. “What kind of game?”

“Have you heard of twenty questions? We could get to know each other a little better.” Jack explained, still grinning.

“The game twenty questions, where you ask twenty questions?” Mark grinned cheekily. “I’m familiar with the principle. Sure, why not? Let’s do it.”

“Shut up,” Jack said though there was no real bite to it. His face lit up once again though, when his proposition was accepted. 

“Cool! Alright, I guess I’ll go first.” He thought for a moment. He had a few complicated questions but he figured he would save those for later. Better to start simpler.

“Um...How old are you?” Jack finally asked.

“Seven.” Mark joked. “Or at least I act like it. I’m 27. What about you?”

“Oh same! On both accounts. I actually turned 27 quite recently.” He thought back to the little party his family had put on for him. It had been nice to see everyone again. He thought about his next question.

“When’s your birthday?” Not the best question, but an important one all the same.

“June 28th on the Earth calendar year.” Mark answered, of course that probably meant nothing to an alien on a planet far from the milky way galaxy. “Hmm, what’s your favorite food?” He took another chunk of pizza.

Jack was confused but decided not to dwell further on the date. It would probably just confuse him anyway. Jack smiled at the question, making a scene of taking another bite out of his pizza.

“Pizza,” he said his mouth once again full. He swallowed quickly. “That or cake. Or cookies. Can’t really decide.” he laughed. Mark rolled his eyes.

“How tall are you? Compared to others your size?” Jack was actually quite curious about the answer to this question.

“Tall enough, but all my friends are super tall so I seem short.” Mark snorted to himself, looking up at Jack. Not much seemed to have changed. “Okay, what are you afraid of?”

“Wow getting deep.” Jack chuckled. “Heights, but I think I mentioned that before.” Jack frowned slightly when he was reminded of a little earlier. He bit the inside of his cheek, trying to decide on whether or not to ask. 

“Are you...actually afraid of heights?” Jack decided to go ahead and ask. They were playing twenty questions after all.

“I’m not fond of falling,” Mark replied, staying cryptic, “or more so I’m afraid of hitting the ground and getting hurt.” Mark took another bite, trying to decide whether to say more. “I will admit though that I never had much problem with heights until I got here. Mannequins and the ocean are what really give me goosebumps.” Mark took yet another bite to stop himself from rambling. With deliberate slowness, he chewed and swallowed.

“Anyway!” Mark said in an overly fake cheery voice. “Favorite color?”

Jack frowned and winced and the implications behind Mark’s words. He probably should have figured that though. It’s not like he took any real offense to it anyway. He himself took another large bite of pizza, finishing off one of his slices.

“Red, probably not what you were expecting.” Jack answered as he ran a hand through his green hair, making Mark laugh. He then thought back to what Mark said.

“You said you’re scared of the ocean, but that you go out and explore space? Isn’t space and the ocean kind of the same thing?” Jack asked, confused.

“It is not the same thing!” Mark argued, immediately getting defensive. “The ocean is an unknown area on your own planet with creepy and dangerous lifeforms and it’s a spot that’s hostile where you can’t survive your own home! At least in space you know you’re not welcome anyways, but you were clever enough to join the stars and defy the laws of nature. Space is so cool.” Mark ripped a piece of pizza off more viciously than usual. “And that totally counted as two questions.”

Mark took a moment to remember something Jack mentioned earlier. “Now, what the heck did you mean about space travel not being possible and all that nonsense? You sound like someone out of the medieval ages.”

Jack could only stare at Mark with wide eyes as he talked passionately about space. It was kind of endearing, hearing him talk about something like that. It kind of made Jack believe him about the whole space thing.

“We had been working towards a way to go into space, but everything failed. We couldn’t even figure out a way to make it out of the troposphere. Eventually everyone just gave up and deemed it impossible and not worth it anyway.” Jack shrugged and got started on his second piece of pizza. 

“So, you’re really from space?” Jack asked, finally allowing himself to believe it.

“Yes, I’m really from space.” Mark tried to hide his groan at having to repeat himself. “And my goodness, you’re scientists suck if they just gave up. Why did they decide it wouldn’t be worth it?”

Jack shrugged again. “They said we had all we needed here and that space was just full of empty planets anyway. Clearly they were wrong.” As Jack looked at the tiny alien that had crashed in his back woods. 

“What is, uh, Earth like exactly?” Jack asked, hoping he had said Mark’s planet’s name right.

“Well, it’s all to my scale of course.” Mark furrowed his brow, trying to think how to describe his planet without fully knowing what Jack’s home was like for reference. “There’s lots of land and it’s a planet driven by water-based lifeforms. It got a little damaged for a while when humans polluted it in pursuit of science, but recently there’s been movements to restore its prehistoric glory and all that.” Mark looked around him at the walls of the giant house, realizing just how difficult it would be for Mark to ever see more of this planet with his own two feet. 

“What is this planet called, anyways?” Mark asked.

Jack listened intently as Mark spoke of his home planet. “Its called Bossatron and from the sounds of things, it’s a lot like your planet! Other than the size difference. And the pollution. I don’t think we’ve had a problem with pollution for a good 100 or 200 years now.” He shrugged. It sounded like they weren’t much different after all.

“Favorite genre of, well, anything?” Jack asked, going back to basic questions for now.

“Anything?” Mark raised an eyebrow, getting cocky. “That’s pretty vague, isn’t it? Running out of ideas? I could answer ‘classic’ or ‘comedy’ or ‘science fiction’. Which by the way, are the correct answers. Good luck figuring that out.” Mark considered a moment, trying to think of another question. He sat down cross-legged next to the plate, starting to feel full.

“Do you consider yourself an introvert or extrovert?” Mark asked.

Jack chuckled, he should have figured his question was too broad. He was coming to learn quickly that Mark was a little ball of sass.

“Bit of both. Probably on the more extroverted side but I do love me some alone time now and then.” Jack smiled and then gave a look of deep thought.

“Wait, what question are we on?”

“I thought it was your job to keep track!” Mark argued, pointing an accusing finger at him. “So no, I don’t know what question we’re on so I declare this to be question 20. It’s your own fault. And that counted as a question.”

Jack pouted, but decided that twenty questions would be a little much and so decided to go along with Mark’s declaration. He thought hard, wanting this last question to be a good one. An idea entered his mind and he bit his lip, wondering if it would be a good idea or not. He wrestled with it for another second before deciding to just go for it. He took a breath and then slowly and carefully, Jack placed his hand in front of Mark, palm up. He gave a soft, kind smile.

“Can I hold you?”


	7. Sleep is for the Weak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack is clingy and Mark is tired.

Mark stood up quickly and backed away from the hand invading his personal bubble. Mark knew it was too much to expect Jack’s curiosity to die down so soon.  At least Jack wasn’t being as grabby this time.

“Jack, you already held me.” Mark reminded him, already wanting to forget the fairly traumatizing experience he wasn’t eager to repeat. “And remember the whole thing about I’m not a puppy?” 

 

 

“I know you’re not a puppy!” Jack said, slightly offended. “And I know I already held you, but well, I guess my  _ actual _ question is… Do you trust me?”

 

“Hey, you can’t go pulling that on me.” Mark shifted uneasily. “That’s not fair. It’s not like that, Jack.” Mark stared at the open palm a long time, trying to get used to the way the surface moved with Jack’s every breath or the slight twitches of his restless fingers. 

“Jack, c’mon.” Mark crossed his arms. “This isn’t about trust, this is about...boundaries. Besides, it’d be totally crazy for me to trust someone I just met with my life, not to mention irresponsible on my end to put so much pressure on you. You can understand, right?” Mark knew he was just making excuses for himself at this point.

 

Jack slumped, dejected. “O-Oh, right. I guess…” Jack looked down and swallowed the lump in his throat. He knew he had been asking Mark too much. He should have stopped while he was ahead. His hand stayed on the table, but retreated a few inches.

 

Mark sighed, feeling guilty at the look of disappointment on Jack’s face. In Mark’s mind, it was insane to put himself back in a situation where he was terrified and could easily get hurt; however, Mark tried to look at this from Jack’s perspective. Jack was clearly trying his best to be patient and understanding despite having the power to force Mark to do pretty much anything. Not to mention, Mark would probably have to get used to being carried around for as long as he was stuck on planet Bossatron.

Cautiously, he began to approach the open palm. It would be easy to step right on...unless Jack were to suddenly flinch. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that; It had already been a very long day. Still, Mark could at least do this much for Jack if he wanted Jack to like him and respect his independence. Mark took a deep breath to steady himself, reached out a hand and touched Jack’s little finger.

 

Jack gasped softly as he felt a feather light touch on his finger. He looked towards the table and saw that Mark had walked closer towards him and was now right next to his hand, touching it. Jack stayed still and silent, keeping his palm flat and watched to see what Mark would do next.

 

When the finger only tensed slightly under his touch, Mark used it to pull himself up onto the center palm. It was strange, standing on an oddly squishy platform consistently rising and falling with Jack’s heartbeat. Strange, but not exactly unwelcome. Mark looked up from his feet to see Jack staring down at him with the eyes of a child on christmas.

“You’re staring at me.” Mark spoke up, wanting to break the tension.

 

Jack grinned when Mark stepped onto his hand, the feeling of small feet on his skin was so weird. Mark weighed almost nothing, maybe a bit more than a pen. It took Jack nothing to hold him. Or lift him up as Jack carefully did, stopping his hand at chest level.

 

“Sorry, I can’t really help it. You’re so small.” Jack chuckled.

 

“Well you’re so big, but you don’t see me gawkin’.” Mark joked, trying to distract himself from the sinking feeling in his stomach as he was lifted higher. Mark made sure to crouch down a bit to keep his balance, never letting go of Jack’s pinky finger. For safety, of course.

 

 

Jack hummed in response and chuckled. He was glad to see Mark was doing okay with this so far. Their game from earlier popped into his mind and he smiled down at the tiny man in the palm of his hand.

 

“Hey, you still have your last question to ask ya know.” Jack reminded him.

 

“Hmm…” Mark tried to consider his last question carefully. He wanted to make it count, but the events of the day had fried his brain. All he could think about was how tired he was and how much he yearned to be in his warm bed. Just the thought of sleep made Mark let out a large yawn. “I’m too tired for questions.”

 

Jack couldn’t help but yawn back. He blinked the moisture out of his eyes and finally looked at the clock to see what time it was. His eyes widened.

 

“Okay, yeah, it is  _ a lot _ later than I actually thought.” He had been so fixated on Mark he hadn’t noticed just how much time had passed by. But now they had another problem. What were they going to do for Mark’s sleeping arrangements? Jack thought for a moment and looked down at Mark.

 

“Um, ya wanna sleep in my room?” Jack asked, hoping the question didn’t come out as weird.

 

“Uh, i’m good.” Mark let out a little awkward laugh. “We’re not that close yet. Besides, I can just sleep in my ship.” It was strange how Jack wanted to take care of Mark so badly that he seemed to forget that Mark was a fully capable space explorer. Or maybe Jack didn’t fully respect his experience and skills yet. Nevertheless, Mark knew it’d be dangerous to fall into the trap of relying on Jack forever in this world. Mark had to stay on his toes.

 

 

“...Okay.” Jack grinned and--after some hesitation--put Mark down near his ship. He then stood up to his full height and stretched.

 

“Well, I’m gonna go get ready for bed.” He said and then left in the direction of his room.

 

Mark watched as Jack left, surprised to find him so uncharacteristically agreeable. Mark was sure Jack would have insisted on keeping Mark close. His curiosity had seemed boundless and bordering on possessive, but Jack had listened. Maybe Jack really did respect him. 

“Good night!” Mark yelled after him, not sure if he was heard. 

Mark entered his ship through the giant hole in the cockpit and made his way back to his chambers, sliding over the overturned filing cabinets once more. The door was jammed shut, but with the help of his emergency kit crowbar he got it open while dealing minimal damage. Not that it really mattered at this point. Too exhausted to do anything else, Mark collapsed into bed.

 

Jack got ready for bed like he said, putting on his pajamas and brushing his teeth. He then went over to his nightstand and cleared everything off of it, still grinning. He checked on Sam real fast before he left the room, his little buddy still ‘asleep’ in the corner. He patted its head and then made his way back into the living room.

 

He peaked a head out and glanced at the table. He didn’t see Mark, which probably meant he was inside his ship already.  _ Perfect _ , Jack thought. He walked on over, trying to keep his steps light and then with one fluid motion, picked up the ship, making sure he was careful to not shake things so much like he did the first time. He carried the ship into his room and set it on the nightstand. He sat down in bed, grinning while staring at the ship.

 

Mark jolted awake as the ship began trembling all around him. He half expected the emergency lights to engage again before remembering the ship was completely offline. He gripped the sides of the bed tightly until just a few moments later when the shaking stopped. 

“That was weird.” Mark murmured to himself. Grabbing his knife for protection, Mark cautiously peered out into the hallway and went to investigate. Mark was shocked to find he was no longer on the familiar coffee table, and was instead in what appeared to be a giant bedroom of sorts. Jack’s bedroom, probably. This suspicion was confirmed when Mark spotted Jack to his left, grinning like a cheshire cat. Mark glared back at him.

“I’m too tired for this.” Mark sighed, retreating back into the privacy of his rooms.

 

“Goodnight to you too!” Jack said as he watched Mark retreat back to his room. He smiled, feeling accomplished before yawning and lying down in bed. He took one last look at the ship before closing his eyes and fading into sleep.

 

Mason walked back into the room, seeing Jason still sitting at the monitor. “Anything changed?” He asked, hands behind his back.

 

“No, sir.” Jason shook his head, having been on constant surveillance ever since the sighting of the tiny man. “But, Sam will continue to keep watch. Right now both life forms seem to have fallen asleep.”

 

“Well, keep watching.” He walked over to the door and stopped in the doorway. “If this is what I think it is,” he paused and smiled. “Then I have big plans.”


	8. Trying to Prove a Point

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark is stubborn.

Mark woke up the next morning feeling very sore. He frowned, trying to remember why everything hurt, until memories of being tilted around in his ship came rushing back. And crashing onto a giant alien planet. And being poked and prodded by a curious giant with no perception of personal space. No wonder his bones ached. 

Mark stretched his arms above his head, waking up. Years of training to be an astronaut had turned Mark into an early riser. Getting dressed in one of the spare uniforms in his room, Mark walked out of the ship to find Jack still asleep. It was weird to see the guy so peaceful. While Mark welcomed the change, he was more or less stranded up on the nightstand. Unless…

Mark went back to check in his emergency kit, and was relieved to find there was a spare grappling hook. Mark grabbed a few other tools and left to explore. He hooked onto the edge of the nightstand and dropped the rope over the ledge. After tugging to make sure the hook would stay, Mark slid down the rope. Unfortunately the length was a bit shorter than the nightstand, and Mark ended up a few feet above the ground. Mark jumped the rest of the distance, landing on the soft carpeted floor. It was a bit of a hasty choice, especially because Mark wouldn’t be able to get back up, but he wasn’t about to stand around on the nightstand waiting for Jack to wake up.  
Mark looked up at the bed towering far above him. This world looked even more intimidating from the ground. To be safe, Mark decided to explore under the bed rather than out in the open. He shuddered at the thought of Jack accidentally stepping on him. Under the bed, Mark found a few abandoned items collecting dust, including a sock that could have doubled as a sleeping bag. Suddenly Mark froze, hearing the bed springs groan just above his head.

Jack’s eyes slowly opened and he groaned, shifting in bed. He turned towards the nightstand to see what time it was, but was temporarily confused when he didn’t see his clock. Instead, a half broken piece of metal took its place. He blinked and sat up straight, remembering the day before. Finding the ship and the tiny alien that came with it. Mark, Jack reminded himself. He smiled and leaned closer towards the ship, wondering if Mark was up yet.

“Mark?” Jack tried peering in but there were no windows and the open part of the ship didn’t allow him to see Mark’s room. He tapped on the outside, hoping he would hear and come out. After a few minutes of nothing, Jack’s eyebrows furrowed. 

“Mark?”

Mark ducked down to keep from getting hurt by the bed springs, but there was no true danger. He heard Jack calling his name far above him, clearly awake now too. Mark stayed where he was, still nervous of being stepped on if he went out in the open. 

Jack tried tapping again, but still nothing. He finally looked down enough to notice the hook and string leading down towards the floor. Jack’s eyes grew wide at the thought of Mark wandering around his house, without him knowing where he was. Did he not know how dangerous that was! Jack ripped his covers off and scanned the floor really quick before getting out of bed. 

“Mark?!”

The ground shook as a pair of giant feet appeared right in front of Mark as Jack got out of bed. Mark steadied himself, watching as Jack seemed to panic but still took careful steps. It was reassuring, knowing Jack was competent enough to not run around when Mark was out of sight. 

“I’m down here!” Mark called out, not sure if Jack could hear him. The bedding muffled his voice, even to his own ears.

Jack continued looking around the room. His bedroom door had been closed and he was pretty sure there was no way for Mark to get out, so he still had to be somewhere in the room. Hopefully. 

A sound caught his attention in the room, different than the soft whirring sounds of Sam snoring. He couldn’t exactly make it out, but it was enough for Jack to investigate. It had sounded like it was coming from under the bed. Still being careful, Jack got on all fours and peered under the bed. It was dark, but he could make out a small figure.

“Mark?”

“Hey!” Mark waved as Jack’s face blocked his view. “That’s me. I’m here, just chillin’.” 

Jack chuckled, of course it was Mark. Who else could it have been? His chuckles died down and he bit his lip, frowning.

“What are you doing down here?”

“I was exploring for a little bit until you woke up.” Mark explained, shifting through the scattered dust bunnies the size of his head to come closer to Jack. “I accidentally made it so I couldn’t return to the ship, but that’s completely irrelevant. Then I went under the bed to make sure you didn’t step on me by accident when you woke up.”

Jack moved back a bit to allow Mark to come out into the open, still on his hands and knees. “I wouldn’t have stepped on ya.” But that didn’t mean Jack still didn’t feel at all comfortable with Mark on the ground. 

“Good to know.” Mark chuckled, knowing that Jack saying he wouldn’t step on him would do no good in an unfortunate accident with a half-awake Jack. He walked out into the open, staring up at Jack. At least Jack wasn’t so intimidating at this height, despite still being far above Mark. 

Jack watched Mark come out from under the bed, still in awe at how tiny he was. He would probably never get over it, if he was being honest. He sat back on his knees, taking his hands off of the floor. He stared at Mark for a few moments.

“...Are you hungry?” Jack asked.

“Sure, I’d be up for some breakfast.” Mark answered. “What’d you have in mind?”

“Great! I was thinking maybe cereal, or I might have some waffles in the freezer we could eat. I’ll have to check.” Jack grinned and reached down to grab Mark and pick him up but stopped when he remembered the day before. His hand retreated.

“Um, is it alright if I...ya know?” He kept his hand away, waiting for Mark to give an okay or something.

Mark watched Jack hesitate, still nervous. Mark wasn’t eager to be held again, despite the previous evening’s events. 

“You know, it’s fine. I can walk.” Mark shrugged, trying not to seem like a jerk. He still needed to stay independent.

“Um…” Jack tried to calculate the distance it would be from his room to the kitchen for someone as small as Mark. It would be a long way. That and Jack still didn’t feel comfortable with Mark on the ground.

“It’s kind of far for you...and I don’t really like you being on the ground.” Jack said, voicing his concerns. He knows Mark just wanted to do things himself, but there’s a line between independence and letting people help. 

“You don’t like me being on the ground?” Mark raised an eyebrow, feeling offended. “Well, I guess that’s too bad. Because I’m walking. I can get there myself, and I don’t care how far it is.” Mark began to make his way through the thick carpet towards the door.

“Wha-Mark!” He watched as Mark started walking away. He hadn’t meant to offend him. He still kept his hands to himself though, for now at least. Something told him that grabbing Mark, especially now, would not go over so well. Besides, Mark couldn’t be that stubborn. Jack was sure he would ask for help eventually. 

Mark stormed off, upset at Jack for thinking he couldn’t do it and more upset that his size made it impossible to truly storm off. He could feel Jack’s eyes following him every step across the room.

Mark finally reached the door, only to realize with dread that it was sealed with some form of advanced mechanics far above Mark’s head. Unfortunately, there was no gap between the door and the floor for Mark to squeeze through. Perhaps his plan wasn’t well thought-out. He groaned inwardly at the idea of having to ask for Jack’s help so soon.

“Could you please open the door?” Mark called out to Jack who still hadn’t moved, his pride a little bruised.

Jack couldn’t help but give a cheeky grin. He stood up to his full height and went over to the door. He was extra careful not to get too close to Mark and went ahead and opened the door for him. The door slid open and the two could now see down the hallway. Jack looked down at Mark expectantly, trying to ignore the way he could barely make out his expression from this far above him.

“I can still carry you there ya know, save you the trouble,” Jack offered again.

“I’m good.” Mark said through gritted teeth. He walked through the door, not looking up at Jack as he towered far above him, casting a shadow. Mark marched down the hall, directly towards the living room. The minutes dragged on as Mark seemed to make no progress. His ears began to turn red in embarrassment as Jack continued to stand there watching, but Mark wouldn’t give up. After what felt like a lifetime (or at least ten minutes), Mark finally reached the threshold of the living room, only to give a loud groan when the kitchen could only be viewed in the doorway far across the room.

“Are you kidding me?!” Mark yelled, frustrated. All this walking was torture on his sore body and his sore pride.

Jack watched, feeling a little bad for Mark. It was kind of funny though. He walked the distance Mark made in ten minutes in about three seconds and crouched down next to Mark at the end of the hallway. He silently placed his hand, palm up, a few feet away from Mark. 

“NO!” Mark shouted at Jack’s hand, giving it a slight kick before running off in the direction of the kitchen. The carpet threatened to trip him up, tugging at his feet. Mark developed a stitch in his side. Still he kept going. Mark gave a slight cry of victory when a few minutes later he reached the kitchen entrance, before glancing up at the kitchen table so far above him. Mark groaned, flopping back to lay on his back. He closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath.

Jack gave a soft smile and chuckle when Mark fell back. He went over to him and once again crouched next to him.

“So, do you wanna try climbing up it or will you finally accept my help?” Jack asked, knowing this had been coming.

“Jack, just give me a minute.” Mark sighed, breathing heavily. “I can do this.”

Jack frowned, was he actually thinking about trying to climb it himself? Jack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was getting out of hand. And dangerous.

“Look, Mark.” Jack started. He shifted so he was sitting cross-legged. “I know you’re just trying to be independent and I get that. Even if you don’t think I do. I really am just trying to help ya…” And he was still very fascinated and curious by Mark, but he didn’t feel the need to mention that right now.

“I know.” Mark said, and he meant it. He knew Jack had his heart in the right place, but by this point Mark had to prove to himself he could survive in this world alone. Poorly, sure, but he could. Besides, he had climbed the kitchen table already once before with the help of his climbing picks, which he had remembered to grab and keep on his belt. At least he spared himself the embarrassment of asking Jack to go get them from his ship. 

“Jack, I get you want to help,” Mark said, standing up, “but I want to prove I can get to a stupid breakfast all on my own.” He pulled out his climbing picks. “Now i’m going to climb up there. If you really want to help, you’ll make sure food is waiting for me up there because i’m starving.”

At this point Jack just wanted to reach out and help him whether Mark wanted it or not, but he held back. Mark sounded serious about it. He sighed.

“All right, just be careful.” He stood and moved over to the fridge to see if he did have waffles but he couldn’t help but keep his eyes on Mark as he climbed.

Mark took the picks and stabbed them into the wooden table leg, using his upper arm strength to slowly pull himself up. His muscles screamed at him to stop, but Mark gritted his teeth and kept going. Mark knew he was stubborn to a fault. Mark also knew that he would never let himself live this down if he couldn’t do it now. He was motivated solely by pride- a frozen waffle wasn’t going to cut it.

Jack only glanced in the fridge for maybe 3 seconds before his eyes focused back on Mark. He couldn’t help but wince as Mark climbed higher and higher. Not to mention, Jack could see him shaking from here. He had a bad feeling about this.

Mark smiled to himself as he realized he was already halfway up. He could do this. Sure, his body felt like it was on fire, but that was fine. His palms were shaking, making it harder to maintain a grip on the picks. Mark tried to think positive, looking up to see how much he had to go.

As he tried to go higher, Mark realized with dread that his body would no longer respond to his command. Every muscle was on lock-down. Mark let out a scream as he began to fall backwards, free falling towards the ground.

“Mark!” Jack literally dived onto the floor, cupping his hands. He felt a small weight hit them and he landed on the floor on his stomach. He groaned from the hard fall, but was more focused on the man in his hand.

“Mark? Are you okay?” Jack asked, concern evident in his tone.

Mark could only wheeze, the breath knocked out of his lungs. Mark sighed, closing his eyes as he laid in Jack’s hands. He took a moment to recover, before answering Jack’s question.  
“I couldn’t do it…” Mark said sadly, almost more to himself.


	9. A Syrup Scare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack tries to cheer Mark up at breakfast and things got weird.

Jack’s eyebrows knit together in concern and he shifted so he was sat up. He bit his lip. “But you tried, that’s all that matters, right?” Jack tried, though he knew it probably wouldn’t help much. The whole point had been for Mark to prove himself. Jack gave Mark a lopsided smile and nudged Mark’s side a bit with a finger, making sure he was careful.

 

“Besides, you did a lot more than I thought you would. Even if it took forever, you still made it pretty far.”

 

“Yeah.” Mark replied, but his heart wasn’t in it. He didn’t even react when Jack nudged him. Mark sat up, crossing his arms and placing them on his knees as he moped. “Look, just forget it. Put me on the table and let’s eat some stupid waffles.”

 

Jack frowned, but complied. He stood up and set Mark down on the table, before going over to the fridge and grabbing the almost empty box of waffles. Thankfully, there was three left. Two for Jack and one for Mark, even if Mark couldn’t eat all of it. He placed them in the toaster and waited a minute, glancing at Mark who was still moping on the table. He sighed as he took the waffles out and set them on plates. This was not how he wanted this morning to go.

 

“Breakfast is served!” Jack cried cheerfully, hoping to lighten the mood. He set the plates down and grabbed some syrup from the cabinet before taking a seat at the head of the table.

 

Mark stood up and went over to what clearly was his plate, taking out his knife to cut off chunks of waffle. It was kind of stiff and difficult to break, but Mark managed. There was no way he was going to ask Jack to cut up his waffle for him too. Mark glared at the food before tearing a bite off with his teeth.

 

“Do ya want some syrup with it?” Jack offered, holding up the bottle after he had poured some on his own waffles.

 

“Yeah, sure.” Mark accepted his offer, hoping the syrup would help soften the thick waffle to be more manageable. Not to mention, syrup is freakin’ delicious.

 

“Great!” Jack reached over and started pouring the syrup on his waffle but his arm kind of slipped on the table and made his arm jerk over Mark, pouring the syrup on him. Jack yelped and quickly righted himself and the bottle, but Mark was already covered.

 

“Whoops.”

 

“Jack!” Mark yelled indignantly. “What the heck, dude?!” He shook his arms to try and get some off, but the syrup was too sticky. Not to mention, he was now soaked head to toe. Some morning this was turning out to be.

 

Jack winced, this morning was definitely not going well. Jack was about to apologize when he got a playful idea. Maybe something to cheer the both of them up. Jack grinned and pinched the back of Mark’s shirt, picking him up and stopping him in front of his face. He chuckled.

 

“Ya look sweeter than the waffle now! Probably taste sweeter too.” Jack licked his lips to sell the part.

 

“Uh...w-what?” Mark felt all the color drain from his face at Jack’s words, dangling right in front of his mouth. That fight-or-flight instinct was kicking in at the mere implication. God, he hoped Jack was joking.

 

“And ya are the perfect size as well.” Jack said it as if he was saying it more to himself. “I probably wouldn’t even ruin my appetite.” He said, trying hard not to laugh. He was having too much fun with this. He brought Mark slightly closer.

 

“S-stop!” Mark put his hands out in front of him, beginning to flail about as Jack really began to scare him. “Jack, please!” Mark was full-on panicking now, knowing that if Jack was serious there was nothing he could do to stop him. Mark tried not to cry as he was brought closer to his almost-friend’s mouth.

 

Jack froze at Mark’s panicked tone and flailing arms. _Oh no_ , he thought as guilt settled in his gut. That was not the reaction he had been expecting. He moved Mark away from his face and cupped him in his hands instead of dangling him in the air. His hands were getting sticky, but he didn’t care. He felt awful when he noticed a few tears on Mark’s face.

 

“No! No, I didn’t mean to-I wasn’t actually gonna eat ya!” Jack said, trying to explain himself and calm Mark down. He was stupid to think this would be a good idea.

 

 

“Then what the hell _were_ you doing?!” Mark shrieked, trying to calm his racing heart. He tried to rub his eyes clear but only ended up getting them covered in more syrup.

 

“I-I was trying to cheer you up! Ya know, just messing around and….stuff…” He trailed off, seeing how his ‘messing around’ was actually affecting Mark. His messing around really messed things up.

 

“Oh my god, Jack.” Mark sighed. He was beginning to calm down, but there was still a bit of leftover adrenaline in his veins. “Do not scare me like that again. Ever.” Jack’s actions did seem to have one positive effect- Mark wasn’t feeling mopey anymore. Instead, he felt scared to death.

 

Jack winced and looked down in guilt. “I’m sorry,” he wondered how effective those words were. He sighed and looked down at his uneaten plate of waffles. He groaned. He didn't feel like eating anymore. He cleared his throat and turned back to Mark.

 

“Um, do ya wanna get cleaned up?” He really wished he hadn’t been so clumsy, then this whole situation wouldn’t have happened.

 

“No,I want to stay covered in syrup all day.” Mark retorted, feeling sassy. He crossed his eyes as he watched a few droplets drip from his hair. “Yes, I’d like to get cleaned up.” Unfortunately, he knew cleaning up would be something he’d need Jack’s help with, as the ship’s shower would not work without power.

 

 

Jack chuckled a bit, happy Mark was okay enough to sass at him, but still not feeling any less guilty.

 

“Right.” He frowned. “Any ideas on how to do this?” Jack asked.

 

Mark frowned as well, looking around the room before being struck with an idea.

“If you run the faucet, I could probably treat it like a shower and get the majority off.” Mark suggested. “I’ve got some spare clothes in my ship, so we can just go back to your room after.”

 

 

“Oh! Yeah that sounds good.” He turned towards the kitchen sink, but stopped when he saw all the dirty dishes.

 

“I forgot about those.” He groaned. He never had a chance to finish them, after everything that happened yesterday.

 

“We’ll have to go into the bathroom.” He said before starting to walk there, it was back down the hallway and next to his room. With his hands full with Mark and dripping with syrup, he bumped the door open and entered to bathroom. He set Mark down on the counter and turned on the faucet washing his hands first. After his hands were clean, he kept the water running on a lower pressure and made sure it wasn’t too hot or cold. He turned to Mark.

 

“Do you, uh, need help?” Jack asked.

 

“No, I’m good.” Mark said, sliding down the edge of the sink and into the spray of water. It was similar to having buckets of water poured on him repeatedly, due to the sheer volume. Scrubbing viciously, Mark removed most of the syrup until he felt satisfied. Now mostly un-sticky, Mark went to climb back out only to realize the walls were too steep. Mark tried his best but just came sliding back down.

“Okay, I might need help.” Mark said, looking up at Jack sheepishly.

 

Jack laughed and grabbed a washcloth that was close by, scooping Mark into it and wrapping him in it. He walked back into his room and set Mark down on the nightstand near his ship, the washcloth still around him so he could finish drying himself off.

 

Mark rubbed at his hair, floofing it up as he dried it. When he was mostly dry, Mark entered the ship and went back into his chambers. He changed into a clean suit, hanging up the wet one to dry on the back of a chair.

 

“Much better.” Mark smiled, coming back out to give Jack a smile.

 

\--------------------------------

Meanwhile…..

 

“Ethan, how far are we from Mark’s last known coordinates?” Tyler asked, standing next to Amy at the helm. Kathryn and Ethan sat either side at their personal command modules.

 

“Um, about 3 light years. We should make it there in about 5 or so hours?” Ethan said, pushing some buttons on his computer. He bit his lip and turned to everyone. “Hey guys?”

 

“What’s wrong, Ethan?” Kathryn said, turning to him.

 

Ethan looked down. “I-I’m worried about what Mark’s message said. What do you think we’re going to find when we get there?” He turned to Amy, who bit her lip and in turn, focused on Tyler for the answer.

 

“I don’t know, Ethan.” Tyler admitted. “But we can’t turn our back on Mark. No matter what awaits us down there, as a team we can overcome anything.”

 

“But what if we can’t!” Amy spoke up. “We don’t know what’s down there! And whatever it was Mark was really freaking out about it! Like full on panicking!” She had never seen her boyfriend so scared before. She shook just thinking about the thing that had made Mark that scared.

 

“Amy, calm down!” Kathryn advised her. “Worrying won’t help Mark, it won’t change anything.”

 

“Everybody needs to calm down.” Tyler advised. “It’s still going to be a long flight.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the amazing support we've received on this story. We're glad everyone seems to love this story as much as we love writing it! Also, the amazing "ashiftingworkshop" over on tumblr did an absolutely gorgeous drawing of the last scene from chapter 8. We cannot thank them enough!  
> Link to awesome fanart on tumblr: https://ashiftingworkshop.tumblr.com/post/160286542001/slides-in-with-fan-art-so-i-was-reading


	10. Let's Try This Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack try breakfast again and Jack remembers he has a job.

Jack took a seat on the bed as he waited for Mark to come back out. He grinned when he did, sporting off some dry clothes.

“Great!” Jack’s smile slowly slipped off his face and he turned away from Mark, rubbing the back of his neck. He sighed.

“I’m sorry again for...earlier. I’m not being a very good host, huh?” Or a good anything, really. 

Mark shrugged. “Well, to be fair, I don’t know if I’d be much better in your shoes.” Mark thought of his own obsession with tiny things, and realized he might have been even more curious than Jack. At least Jack seemed to begin to respect his choices, asking rather than grabbing. 

Mark grabbed the grappling hook still hanging from the night stand, coiling up the rope in case he needed it later. 

Jack watched as Mark rolled up his grappling hook, still amazed at the tiny movements. He thought back to what Mark just said and gave him a flat look.

“I really doubt you could do worse than me right now.” Jack was honestly surprised Mark had just basically brushed off the entire incident, while he himself was still hung up on it.

“Jack, it’s okay.” Mark shrugged. “Don’t beat yourself up about this. I know plenty of creatures who would not be as humane as you. You’re doing your best, and thankfully your best is good enough.”

Jack smiled. “Thanks. Glad to know I didn’t ruin everything.” He turned towards the door and then back down at Mark.

“You wanna go finish breakfast?” Jack suggested.

“Okay.” Mark agreed hesitantly, still feeling queasy at the thought of the sticky syrup. “But, uh, could we maybe skip the syrup this time?”

“Yeah, I think we can do that.” Jack chuckled. “If ya really want, we can have cereal instead? I got some lucky charms!”

“Sounds perfect.” Mark breathed a sigh of relief at the mention of the familiar sugary cereal. He was surprised the brand shipped out this far in the universe.

“Great!” Jack stared at Mark for a bit before looking down.

“Um, so do ya wanna start heading that way and I can get it ready?” Jack asked, figuring Mark would want to get there on his own again.

Mark was surprised when Jack offered to let him walk on his own. In truth, Mark was feeling rather tired, but he knew that he shouldn’t pass up an opportunity to display his independence when it was so willingly offered.

“Sure.” Mark agreed, but his heart wasn’t in it. He hooked his grappling hook back into place on the edge of the nightstand and began to rappel down.

Jack watched Mark climb down before standing and moving away and towards the door. “I’ll, ah, be in the kitchen if ya need me.” Jack took one last glance at Mark before making his way over to the kitchen. As he was throwing out the waffles and getting started on the cereal, he couldn’t help but worry about Mark. Even if he was just in the other room. Something about not knowing exactly where he was had him a little freaked out.

Mark jumped down of the rope and tumbled onto the carpeted floor. He began to make his way towards the door at a leisurely pace, knowing Jack would probably be back soon anyways. Mark saw the little robot eyeball thing watching him from its charging station.

“Hey, Sam.” Mark gave it a nervous wave. Was it just his imagination, or did Sam seem to give him a growl? Mark began to walk a little faster towards the door. That thing may be cool, but it was also downright creepy.

Jack finished up the bowls of cereal, putting Mark’s portion into a little saucer instead of a bowl, in order for him to eat them a little easier. He popped a marshmallow into his mouth before looking out into the living room and on the floor.  
“Mark! You almost here!” Jack yelled, although he wasn’t sure if he would be able to hear Mark calling back or not.

“On my way!” Mark yelled as loud as he could in response, but he knew Jack probably couldn’t hear his little voice. Thankfully Jack had been kind enough to leave the bedroom door open and Mark had already travelled half the length of the hallway. Mark was smart and kept to the edge of the wall, just in case Jack came back. He still wanted to avoid being stepped on.

Jack didn’t hear anything and kind of stepped more into the living room, looking into the hallway. He just barely spotted a small figure walking near the walls. Jack smiled.

“Sorry, just checking on ya. Couldn’t hear you from where I was.”

“That’s fine.” Mark yelled up and gave him a wave, seeing Jack peeking in from the living room. He picked up the pace a bit, going more at a light jog. He didn’t know whether to thank Jack for trusting Mark on his own, or curse him for making him do this twice in one day. Perhaps a bit of both was in order.

Jack smiled and went back to the kitchen, he took a seat and patiently waited for Mark to get here on his own. He messed with his bowl of cereal, but he was gonna wait to eat until Mark was here as well. Hopefully that would be soon.

Mark ran across the living room as fast as he could without making it too obvious. He didn’t want to seem completely out of breath when he reached Jack, who seemed to be patiently waiting at the kitchen table. 

“I’m here!” Mark called up, staying a little bit away from the table just so he could look up at Jack’s face. Even so, Mark had to crane his neck. Good lord, this was intimidating! Mark almost felt like sprinting all the way back out of pure fear, but he urged his legs to stay still.

Jack looked down to see Mark on the floor. He smiled. “Glad you could make it!” Jack joked. He waved across the table.

“Foods ready and waiting for ya. And don’t worry, I haven’t poured the milk yet.” Jack winked and then laughed. He sat back and waited for Mark to start climbing up the table.

Mark looked up at the kitchen table leg, letting out a nervous gulp. The feeling of free falling earlier that morning still terrified him, and now Mark felt weaker than he had when he was climbing to prove a point. There was no way Mark was going to be able to climb up there.

“Hey, Jack?” Mark shifted from foot to foot, embarrassed to have to ask for help.

Jack blinked and looked down confused. “What’s up?”

“Could you maybe, give me a hand?” Mark let out an awkward laugh at his own choice of words. 

“Oh!” Jack was surprised, he was sure Mark would have wanted to do it by himself, like earlier. He smiled. “Of course!” He got of the chair and kneeled in front of Mark, placing a hand palm up in front of him.

“All aboard the Jack express!” 

Mark smiled, glad he could count on Jack. He climbed onto Jack’s hand, sitting down for balance before giving Jack a thumbs up. “Ready!” He said.

Jack did his best to stay perfectly still, still not used to having a tiny person climb onto his hand. As slowly as he could, he lifted Mark up, cupping his other hand behind Mark, just in case. He carefully stood and was about to set him down on the table when he paused. He looked down at Mark and smiled.

Mark frowned when he suddenly stopped moving and was still suspended a few feet above the table. He glanced up at Jack, only to see he was smiling down at him.  
“Uh, Jack?” Mark wasn’t sure he liked that smile. “You can put me down now.”

Jack laughed. “Sorry, sorry. It’s just…” He trailed off, kind of embarrassed. “Thanks for trusting me.” He put Mark on the table and coughed, before taking his seat and smiling again.

“Well, let us finally dig in!” Jack said as he practically dove into his cereal.

Mark smiled, picking out a piece of cereal from his bowl and nibbling on it like a dinner roll. As bizarre as this was, breakfast with Jack like this was pleasant. It was strangely domestic, like a wife who prepares coffee for her sleeping husband.

As they ate, Jack’s thoughts wandered and he suddenly remembered something. Something important. Like the fact that he had a job. 

“Ah shoot,” Jack groaned and stuck another spoon full of cereal in his mouth.

“What’s wrong?” Mark asked, mouth full of a bite of marshmallow. Geez, he forgot how much this cereal tasted like cavities. It was pure sugar.

“After everything with, ya know, you yesterday and this morning, I completely forgot about my job. And I’m supposed to run into town today to pick up something. Not to mention I should probably go grocery shopping.” He said the last part more to himself. He looked at the time on the wall and relaxed slightly when he realized he still had a few hours until he needed to pick it up.

“Oh.” Mark felt almost like a burden, but it wasn’t like he asked Jack to come find his ship. He took another bite. “Okay, that’s cool. I’m fine with staying here alone.” Mark glanced into the hall, sensing movement. Sam was there, watching them. As soon as Sam realized he was noticed, he disappeared, probably back to Jack’s room. Mark shuddered and looked away.

Jack bit his lip, not really up for having Mark stay here all by himself. Of course going out into town had its dangers as well, but at least he would be there. 

“Ya know you can come with me. Could be fun! And it would give you a chance to see more of the planet.” Jack said, knowing that as an explorer, Mark wouldn’t be able to resist knowing more about his planet.

“Well…” Mark considered it. The idea of learning more about Bossatron was certainly tempting, but Mark wasn’t sure he’d want to be around more giant aliens. Jack was more than enough for him, thank you very much. “I dunno, how would that work?”

Jack hummed, not having thought that far ahead. “Well, I guess the safest option would be a pocket? I think I have a shirt that has a chest pocket that would be perfect.” Jack suggested.

“A chest pocket?” Mark cringed. “What if someone bumps into you? What if you fall? What if someone notices me?” He supposed it was the most logical option, but it didn’t make it any more appealing.

“Woah, slow down there.” Jack said, trying to keep up with all of Mark’s concerns. “Everything will be fine, I’ll be extra careful. Besides, it’s monday. There isn’t a ton of people out on the town on a monday. I think we’ll be okay.” 

Mark made a little sound of disagreement, taking another bite of cereal. He was still not fully on board with this plan, but after all Jack had done for him, he wanted to prove that he really was beginning to trust Jack. Not to mention, the idea of going into a giant alien town was both terrifying and slightly more exciting.

“Okay, we’ll try it.” Mark agreed. “But, I’m testing out the pocket before we leave and if I don’t feel safe I’m staying here. Deal?”

“Deal!” Jack took one last bite of his cereal before standing. “I’ll go get dressed!” He said before leaving and heading toward his room. He was now looking forward to this otherwise ordinary and boring day a lot more.

“Wait-!” Mark went to call out for Jack, but the green-haired doof was already long gone. Mark walked over to the table edge and looked down, quickly backing up when he realized it was at least a 40 foot drop.

“Welp, guess I’m stranded here.” Mark shrugged, returning to his sugary cereal. Not that he had anything better to do, but he hoped Jack abandoning him up on high places when he couldn’t get down didn’t become a regular event. 

Jack hurried back out, now donning a pair of jeans and a red shirt with a noticeable chest pocket. He looked sheepish, having realized he had just left Mark alone on the table. Though it wasn’t as if he could take him with him. He had gone to change after all.

“Sorry about that. But are ya ready to test it?” Jack couldn’t help but feel excited for some reason.

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” Mark stood up, dusting the remaining crumbs off his face and clothes. He looked up at Jack, bracing himself.

Jack placed his hand in front of him once again, waiting for Mark to climb on. 

\-------------------

“Sir, there’s been a development!” Jason rushed into his boss’ room, pausing to give an awkward bow. “The homeowner is leaving for the afternoon.”

Mason looked up from his papers, placing his hands on his chin as he looked at Jason.

“And the tiny man?” He asked.

“Well, Sam had to go back to charge before I caught the end of the conversation…” Jason shifted from foot to foot, hoping he wouldn’t be angry. “But, it seems that he’ll be leaving the tiny man home alone.”

Mason glared at the inefficiency of the young robot, but smiled at the news of the tiny man being home alone. This was just what he had been waiting for. He stood, the papers from before now completely ignored.

“Gather up a team and head towards the location. I want that tiny man captured and in my possession by nightfall. Do you understand?” He asked as he stood up straight, placing his arms behind his back.

“Yes sir!” Jason rushed out of the office faster than a jackrabbit, eager to get to work.

Mason watched Jason leave before picking up his desk phone and dialing a number. He turned to look out his window as the call was answered.

“Yes, this is Mason. I want you to prepare a room for a guest that will be arriving…”


	11. Shopping for Sweets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack takes Mark into the shopping district, but their sweet trip gets off to a sour start.

 

Mark stepped on Jack’s hand, already getting familiar to the strange ritual of sitting in another man’s hand. He sat on his knees and nodded to Jack.

 

 

Jack lifted Mark up to his chest and opened up the pocket with his other hand. He sent one last look to Mark before he carefully slid his hand halfway in and dropped Mark into his pocket. His hand retreated. It was really strange, he could feel Mark’s tiny weight but when he looked down it was as if he wasn’t there at all. There might have been a slight bulge if you looked hard enough, but other than that, Mark was basically undetectable.

 

“How does it feel?” Jack asked, curious.

 

Mark put out his hands to steady himself as he tumbled into the soft walls of the pocket. It was dark, with the only light streaming in from above as Jack held the pocket open. Mark tried to gain his footing and stand up to peer over the edge, but that proved impossible as the pocket continued to rise and fall with Jack’s chest. 

“It’s weird.” Mark called up, settling down to treat it like a hammock. “But it’s kinda cozy.” One nice thing that Mark noticed was the fabric walls felt thick, giving the illusion of protection. “If you’re really careful, I suppose this could work...” 

 

 

“Awesome!” He felt Mark shift around, finally settling down. He smiled.

 

“You ready to head out right now?” Jack asked, staring down at Mark through the opening of the pocket.

 

 

Mark nodded, before remembering Jack couldn’t see his face. “Yep!” He yelled out, clutching the folds of the pocket as he braced himself.

 

 

 

Jack smiled and let the lip of the pocket close. He then grabbed his wallet and phone before heading outside. As he walked he took out his phone and texted for a cab and headed towards the meetup place. Which would be a bit more down the road. He made sure to keep his strides even, extra cautious with his tiny passenger. He glanced down.

 

“You doing okay in there?” He asked.

 

 

 

“Mm-hmm.” Mark made a fairly quiet noise of agreement, but he wasn’t sure Jack had heard him. His stomach was not enjoying how Jack’s gigantic steps, making the pocket rock like a ship in the middle of a hurricane. Of course, that only made him think of the ocean. Mark held in a groan, trying not to picture waves and sharks and whatever other horrors lurked in the deep depths. 

 

 

Jack couldn’t hear the small noise Mark had made and stopped walking altogether. He opened up the lip of the pocket once again.

 

“Is something wrong, or did I just not hear you?” He could never know with these things.

 

 

“I’m fine.” Mark took the opportunity to get some deep breaths. “It’s just a bit overwhelming, but then again what isn’t here?” Mark gave a bit of an awkward chuckle. 

 

 

 

“Alright, if you’re sure. Just don’t be afraid to tell me if something's wrong, okay?” Jack started walking again, almost to the location. The cab would be here at anytime now.

 

“I should probably mention that I’m taking a cab. So, there will be another person in there with me.” Jack said, deciding it would be best to tell Mark and not leave it as a surprise.

 

 

 

Mark felt his heart drop to his stomach at the mention of another giant. Of course there were bound to be others like Jack, but Mark couldn’t help but feel nervous at the prospect of being surrounded by aliens a hundred times his size. Mark squirmed, beginning to regret his decision to accompany Jack into town. At least Mark still had some time to mentally prepare, and he’d be hidden away in the pocket rather than constantly stared at like some oddity.

 

 

 

Jack felt Mark squirm once he mentioned another ‘giant’ and Jack placed a hand over the pocket gently. Hoping it would calm him down.

 

“Don’t worry Mark. I won’t let anything happen to ya.” Jack said with a soft smile. He could see the cab coming in the distance and stopped walking.

 

Mark felt himself pushed further against Jack’s chest, and began to panic before realizing what was happening. It was a strange feeling, but almost like an overwhelming hug from a really enthusiastic friend. Mark smiled at the thought, settling down a bit.

 

 

 

Jack took his hand away as the cab pulled up and Jack climbed into the back. He saw the guy in the front looking at him through the rearview mirror and was suddenly put on edge himself. But he smiled and did his best to act normal.

 

“Top of the morning to ya.” He said and the cabbie nodded at him.

 

“Where to?” He asked in a gruff voice. Jack winced slightly but played it off.

 

“Uh, just in the town's shopping district, if ya don’t mind.” He nodded again and turned on the meter before starting to drive. Jack sat back, trying to relax.

 

 

Mark did his best to remain calm as he heard another loud voice overhead. Jack’s pocket was doing an excellent job of hiding the outside world from him, as Mark was sure he would have been nothing but jitters if he were out in the open. Instead, all Mark could see was red fabric.

In the quiet cab, Mark could hear was the sound of Jack’s heartbeat near his head. It was a bit unnerving at first, what with it being so loud, but it had become comforting. It really made Mark feel like it was only him and Jack for miles around. Yep, just Jack. 

 

 

 

The ride lasted no more than ten minutes, but it was a long ten minutes. With Mark with him he didn’t initiate in any conversation, so the ride was completely silent. He would have loved to talk to Mark but that was a big no in this case. All he could do was sit back and wait for the ride to be over.

 

Once the driver pulled off to the side, Jack quickly paid him and hopped out. He looked around the shopping district, happy to see there weren’t too many people out and about. He checked the time, seeing that he still had another hour before the package would be ready to be picked up. Just enough time to get a few things from the grocery store.

 

He entered the nearest one and made a beeline for the candy isle. Checking around to make sure no one was close by, Jack opened the pocket and smiled down at Mark.

 

“Ya want anything? Go ahead, I’m buying.” Jack said with a chuckle.

 

 

 

“Uh, what is it?” Mark asked, looking up at Jack. Mark tried again to stand up and peer out of the pocket, but the bottom fabric proved too unstable and he ended up collapsing on his butt. Mark gave an irritated huff.

 

 

 

Jack chuckled and checked around one last time before sticking his hand in the pocket and scooping Mark out with a simple, fluid motion. He kept his hand close to his chest, just in case someone came in the isle unexpectedly and allowed Mark to see the rows of candy on the wall.

 

 

Mark glanced up and down the aisle, looking at nothing but sweets for what felt like miles. He glanced at the packaging. Some of the treats were clearly alien; others, Mark couldn’t help but snort at the names of some candies so similar to Earth, and yet different. Stars Bars, NnN’s, Holly Ranchers, Rooses Pooses, Kik Kak, and Sneakers, to name a few. 

“What’s that?” Mark asked, pointing to a box of what seemed to be called Septic Swirls.

 

 

Jack looked where Mark was pointing and beamed when he saw what it was. He walked over and picked it up with his free hand, looking it over.

 

“Man, I haven’t seen these in forever! I used to love these as a kid! They’re gummy candies that all look the same, a green circle with a darker green swirl, but each one has a different flavor!” He was now tempted to buy this one for himself. Just for the memories alone.

 

 

 

Seeing Jack’s excitement, Mark knew he’d have to choose these. How could he choose anything but what clearly was one of Jack’s favorite?

“Let’s see if their reputation holds, up then.” Mark grinned.  “I’d love to try them, if you’re really buying.”

 

 

Jack’s eyes lit up. “Awesome! You are going to love them.” He went to grab another box off the shelf when he heard footsteps coming from the other end of the aisle. A quick glance to his right told him that a woman was making her way into the same aisle. Panicked and not thinking straight, the hand holding Mark wrapped around him and dove into his jeans pocket. He kept his hand there and tried to look as casual as possible as the woman came over. 

 

 

Mark gasped as Jack unexpectedly grabbed him tightly and shoved him in what must have been another pocket. What was going on? Mark’s heart raced as his anxiety rose, breath restricted by Jack’s firm grip. Mark squirmed, hoping to get at least a little breathing room.

 

 

Jack waved at the lady with his other hand a she gave him a weird look but otherwise ignored him. She looked as though she would be in the aisle for a while so Jack took the initiative and grabbed the other box before going to one of the empty aisles in the way back. He felt Mark squirm and felt guilty as he pulled his hand out and opened it. Revealing a very disheveled looking Mark.  

 

“I’m sorry, I panicked! Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, right?” Jack asked in concern. His one unthoughtful action could have ruined everything.

 

“No, I’m okay.” Mark tried to fix his hair, picking some pocket lint out. “You just scared me, is all. Jeez, you’ve gotta give some warning or something.” Mark took a few deep breaths, remembering Jack’s unyielding fingers. It certainly helped remind Mark that there was nothing he could do to ever stop Jack.

 

 

Jack deflated a bit as Mark mentioned being scared. “Sorry. But I didn’t really have time to warn you. That lady was walking fast!” And his panicked mind had completely forgotten to do so. His first instinct was to hide him and that was what he did. He really wasn’t good under that kind of pressure. 

 

 

“I know…” Mark gave a frustrated sigh. He ran his fingers through his hair a few more times in agitation. “Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.”

 

 

“No!” Jack practically yelled, but then winced at his own volume. He lowered his voice. “Don’t let this one thing convince you. We’ve just started! I’ll be better, I promise. There’s still a lot I want to show you.” Jack said. But if Mark wanted to go home then he would, he wouldn’t like it but he didn’t want to make Mark stay if he really didn’t want to.

 

 

Mark covered his ears, wincing at the booming sound of Jack’s voice. Talk about sensory overload. Mark had to wait for the ringing noise to subside a bit before he could respond.

 

“Okay, Jack.” Mark said, sounding unsure even to himself. “Let’s get going, then.” Although truthfully, Mark was now thinking that the sooner they finished this trip, the sooner they could go home. 

 


	12. Random Doggo Appeared!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Mark test out the sweets, only to come across a kid and his dog. Mark's not exactly thrilled with Jack's idea.

 Jack nodded and smiled, happy Mark was giving it another chance. He slipped Mark back into his chest pocket and went to go pay for the boxes of candy. He decided to go through the self checkout line, not wanting to interact with anyone else quite yet. Once he was finished he walked back outside. He checked the time once again and, seeing that he still had some time, walked over towards the park. He found a shady tree, away from everyone else--especially the playground--and sat underneath it.

 Jack set the bag of candy down and opened up the pocket to look at Mark. “So, wanna try the best candy ever?”

 “Sure, I’ll try this so-called best candy.” Mark teased. “But you better not be pulling my leg- I demand satisfaction!”

 Jack chuckled and scooped Mark out, now holding him in the palm of his hand. He looked around to see where Mark could sit and settled for setting him down on his lower thigh. He didn’t really want to put him on the ground. He then opened up one of the boxes and handed one of the gummies to Mark.

 “Remember to tell me what it tastes like! All of them are different.” He said excitedly. He waited on eating his own until Mark had, not wanting to miss his reaction.

 “Alright.” Mark said, taking the sweet with both his hands. The whole circle was larger than his face. Taking the edge of it, he bit into it with all his might. At first the gummy refused to tear, but then Mark succeeded in getting a chunk in his mouth. Mark’s eyes widened as the taste hit his tongue, giving off a flavor similar to hot sauce. Definitely unexpected, Mark gave a slight cough as he adjusted to the strange gummy.

 “My goodness, I think it’s hot sauce!” Mark exclaimed. Thank goodness Mark had eaten plenty of hot peppers in his life, or this would be unbearable.

 Jack laughed. “Awesome! My turn!” He popped one of the candies in his mouth and his eyes scrunched together before he laughed again.

 “Ha! Potatoes. Why not?” He grabbed another one and offered it to Mark.

 “Uh…” Mark glanced at the unfinished candy in his hand and then at the new one being offered. He held up his old one, smiling. “Wanna trade?”

 Jack smiled and took the offered candy replacing it with the other one. He popped the hot sauce one in his mouth and coughed.

 “Holy crap, that’s a hot one.”

 “Well, yeah!” Mark rolled his eyes. “I did warn you!” Mark bit into the second gummy more easily, getting the hang of it. His mouth flooded with a more fruity flavor. “Hmm, orange.”

 “Orange? Well that’s boring.” Jack popped another in his mouth, wanting to get rid of the hot sauce flavor. “Eggs. Not the best, but not as terrible as you might think.” Jack stretched his hands in the air and leaned back against the base of the tree.

 “You want to try anymore, or should we save them?” Jack asked.

 “Well, what else do you have planned?” Mark replied, taking another bite of the orange one. “Do we have time to stay here for a little bit?” Mark glanced around at the enormous park in wonder, almost forgetting how the outside world had looked when he first arrived. “I’d love to walk around here, if that’s okay.”

 Jack hummed and looked around. No one was near by and he was right here if anything happened. “Alright, yeah that’s fine. Just try not to wander off to far.”

 “How far could I get?” Mark snorted. Mark carefully slid off of Jack’s leg, landing on his own two feet. It was strange to be back on real ground. Mark let his hands trail along the grass almost as tall as him while he walked off in a random direction. While it was certainly an intimidating scene, there wasn’t much Mark could see from this low of a perspective. 

  Jack watched Mark as we walked away, exploring the giant world around him. He had to wonder what it was like, being Mark’s size. Jack probably wouldn’t be able to handle it, for his fear of heights alone. Jack laid down in the grass, still keeping an eye on Mark.

Mark turned, startled, as there was a large rustling noise behind him, but it was only Jack laying down. Mark really needed to get his nerves under control. He turned back ahead, but Mark could feel Jack’s gaze on his back with every step. 

 Mark knelt to examine the dirt. It seemed to be similar to the composition on Earth, and Mark watched curiously as a worm the size of his lower leg seemed to slither like a snake past him. Mark tried to reach out and touch it, but it was gone as soon as it appeared.

 Watching Mark interact with things was really fascinating to Jack. He chuckled as he saw Mark trying to touch a worm, only for it to disappear. He was glad it was sunny today, normally it was all rainy and gray. Jack wondered slightly how rain would affect Mark at his size.

 He glanced at his watch again. “Mark! We should probably get going here pretty soon.” Jack called out. The place wasn’t that far, but he didn’t want to be late.

 “Alright!” Mark called back, giving one last longing glance at the park. He started walking back towards Jack, only to realize he hadn’t gotten very far. Mark sighed. There was so much left to explore, if only he was bigger.

 Jack sat up and waited for Mark to come closer. He looked around again, just to make sure nobody was nearby and then turned back towards Mark. He froze.

 “Mark. Don’t move.” Mark immediately froze in place, scared by Jack’s tone. He looked up at his green-haired friend, trying not to panic.

 “What is it?” Mark said as loudly as he dared, not wanting to draw attention from whatever made Jack so nervous too.

 Jack watched with baited breath as the dog sniffed only a few feet away from here Mark stood. The dog wasn’t big to him of course, but any animal was dangerous for Mark at his tiny size. He glanced down at Mark and spoke quietly.

 “It’s a dog. Okay, don’t panic he hasn’t seen you yet, just come over here.” Jack said, glancing between Mark and the dog every few seconds.

 Mark’s fear of being treated like a chew toy outweighed his curiosity of seeing a giant doggo. Not even daring a glance backwards, Mark began to take long, quick strides towards Jack. 

 Mark’s quick movements caught the dog’s attention and it looked up towards him and didn’t hesitate in bounding after him. Jack’s eyes widened and he reached the rest of the way, scooping Mark up and holding him to his chest. The dog wasn’t gonna go away easy though, as it went up to Jack, trying to get whatever was in his hand. Jack stood and held Mark out of reach.

 Mark clutched Jack’s fingers, gazing down at the dog eager to get a piece of him. It seemed friendly and playful enough, but Mark was sure he and the dog had different views on ‘play’. It was now that Mark thought of Chica back home, and suddenly felt very homesick.

 “No, bad doggy.” Jack tried, but the dog kept trying to get to Mark. A voice called out, making the dog’s ears perk up and stop for a moment and a pair of running footsteps came over. Jack looked up only to be met by a child, no more than ten years old. As if things couldn’t get any worse.

 “There you are.” The boy said. The dog barked at him before once again trying to reach up to Jack’s hands. Jack yelped.

 “Hey! Calm your dog down!” The boy went over and grabbed the dog's collar keeping it to the ground.

 “Sorry, he’s not usually like that. What’s he trying to get anyway?” Before Jack could process what was happening, the little boy was looking at Mark in his hands.

 “Whoa.” The kid said, eyes wide. “What’s that?”

 Mark could feel himself trembling, frozen under the gaze of an enormous child. Curious brown eyes stared down at him and Mark couldn’t help but remember how mischievous little kids get around small animals. 

This is the kind of thing he was worried about. What were they supposed to do now? Mark wanted to scream at Jack to just take off running and hope the kid forgot, but Mark’s mouth refused to cooperate.

 Jack was once again panicked and ended up saying the first thing that came to mind. “He’s a toy!” The boy tilted his head.

 “A toy? But he looks so real.” Jack smiled, but it probably came out more as a grimace.

 “Yeah, they’re starting to make super realistic ones now.” He laughed nervously. “But it’s just a toy, see.” He mentally apologized to Mark as he brought him out more and pinched his arm gently between two fingers, just like he did when they first met.

 “You can manipulate it and everything.” He moved Mark’s arm up and down.

 Mark did his best to stay absolutely still and blink as little as possible to go along with Jack’s ‘toy’ idea, but this was ridiculous. Out of all the possible actions taken, this was Jack’s bright idea? Mark tried to hide his irritation as Jack grabbed his arm, carefully moving it around. He prayed Jack didn’t accidentally snap his bones. It was one thing to call him a toy, but this demonstration was completely unnecessary. Mark felt humiliated. If he got out of this alive, Jack would be getting a firm talking-to.

 The boy looked on with awe and Jack was sure that he convinced him. He let go of Mark’s arm and held him close to his chest once again. Wanting to get the heck away.

 “Where can I get one!” Jack winced at the child’s loud enthusiastic voice.

 “Oh! Um, well they aren’t for sale yet, but keep an eye out at the toy store! Anyway, gotta go bye!” Jack didn’t wait for the kid to say anything else as he booked it out of there. He ran until the child and dog were no longer in sight and then proceeded to triple check for other people before looking down at Mark.

 “Are you okay?” He felt like he was asking that a lot today.

 “That was too close.” Mark sighed, catching his breath after having to clutch for dear life as Jack ran. He rolled his arm around in its socket, making sure it was still unbruised. “And what were you thinking- a toy? Really?”

 “I’m not good under pressure.” It was a poor excuse. Now that the situation was behind him he could think of many other things he could have done that would have been better. He noticed Mark moving his arm around.

 “I didn’t hurt you did I?” He thought he was being gentle, but what did he know anymore.

 “No, I’m alright.” Mark assured him. Mark took a moment to reflect back on what had just happened. “Hey, thanks for saving me from that dog. I know I was a bit preoccupied in the moment, but your quick thinking there did save me, so I guess you have some grace under pressure.”

 “Of course.” Jack laughed a bit at Mark’s compliment. “Maybe a little.” He sighed.

 “We better get going. The sooner we get the package, the sooner we can get home.”

 “Yeah, I think we’ve spent enough time outside for the day.” Mark agreed. “I’m ready to go home as soon as possible.”

 Jack nodded, put Mark in his pocket and headed for the post office. He walked in and as quick as he could, got his package. It was in a neat little box and he placed it under his arm as he signed for it. He thanked the clerk and left the building. He was about to take out his phone and call a cab when he came upon a toy store. He stopped and looked at it for a moment.

 Mark probably wouldn’t like it, but there were sure to be some things inside that would be perfect for Mark and his size. Biting his lip, Jack went inside, the door making a dinging sound as he entered.


	13. Toy Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the toy store ends up being more profitable than expected,

Mark was confused as he heard the sound of a bell overhead, similar to that of one when entering a shop. Wasn’t the plan to get the package and go home? Mark tugged on Jack’s shirt to get his attention, not daring to speak up when other aliens might be around.

Jack felt a tug on his shirt and figured it was Mark wanting to talk to him. He placed a hand over the pocket, but before he could go into the back corner of the store a lady stopped him. Seeing her uniform it was clear that she worked here.

“Can I help you, sir?” Jack just realized how weird it would look going into a toy store by himself. He had to make something up to look less like a creep.

“Oh! Just looking for my niece. It’s her birthday next month. Can you point me to the doll section?” The lady’s attitude changed and she smiled.

“Of course! It’s near the back, past the stuffed animals.” Jack grinned.

“Thanks!” He walked towards where she told him and was glad there weren’t, what seemed like, any kids in the shop today. He took Mark out of the pocket, finally.

 

“A toy store?” Mark practically hissed, crossing his arms as he stood on Jack’s palm. This was taking the joke too far, and it hadn’t even been a joke to begin with! “Jack, I thought we were going home.”

 

“I know, but there could be stuff here that’s your size that you could use!” Jack said, trying to explain his actions.

  
“Jack, I have my ship, remember?” Mark replied. “I’ve got clothes on my back, a place to sleep, and food to eat. I don’t need anything else. I’m used to modest living."

Jack bit his lip and looked around before seeing something and grabbing it. He held it out to Mark.

“Well, what about this!” It was a blue colored shower and Jack was reminded of how Mark’s ship didn’t have power anymore.

 

“Yeah, but that’s just a replica.” Mark said, looking at the little shower in Jack’s hand. “That wouldn’t do me any good anyways.”

 

“Ah, but you underestimate us.” Jack kneeled and placed the shower on the floor. He then got out his phone and reached into the little shower to reveal a small cord. He hooked up the cord to his phone and carefully turned the tiny knob. Water poured out of the shower head. He turned to Mark, looking smug.

 

“Wha-?” Mark’s jaw dropped, watching water pour from a shower head made for his size. How did that even work? Mark couldn’t tell if he was more attracted to the idea of taking it apart to see what made it tick, or the prospect of a proper shower. Mark kept forgetting that these people had strangely advanced electronics.

“Okay, that’s pretty cool.” Mark admitted, beginning to cave. “I may have spoke too soon. What else have you got?”

 

Jack smiled, seeing that he was winning Mark over. He turned the shower off and put his phone away, standing to his full height. He looked across the shelves, trying to find something. Jack glanced down at Mark still in his hand and set him down on one of the shelves.

“Not sure, let’s find something.” Jack smiled.  
  


Mark began to walk the length of the shelf, gazing in at the packagings for something that caught his eye. Every now and then he sent an uneasy glance down the aisle, the day’s events making him jumpy, but the coast was clear.   
Mark stopped, finding something that would definitely help him survive. It was what appeared to be retractable ladders, and based on the display the max height was almost as high as Jack himself.   
“What about a few of these?” Mark pointed to them. “We could set a few around the house so it’s easier for me to get around."

“Yeah. It’s probably safer than your hook as well.” Jack grabbed a few packs of those. He then looked around some more and came across something that made him think of Mark. He grabbed it and showed it to him.

“Look, it’s a bed with a space theme! We have to get it for you!” Jack said excitedly.

 

Mark laughed. “I think you don’t know what ‘need’ means, but sure, it’s your wallet.” Mark browsed some more before coming across a set of miniature plates and utensils. Mark sat there, gazing at them while deep in thought. He didn’t want to spend all of Jack’s money, but these might be helpful...but was it worth it?

 

Jack came over and noticed Mark looking at the sets of plates and utensils and smiled.

“Hey! These could be really helpful! Wanna get them?” Jack asked.

 

“Sure, I guess.” Mark rubbed the back of his neck, feeling awkward to be at Jack’s mercy but grateful for his kind and generous nature. “Thanks."

 

“Don’t mention it. Hey! Look over there!” Jack pointed to something and grabbed it off the shelf.

“Two mini washer and dryers! We definitely need this. I honestly wouldn’t want to try and wash your clothes in a normal sized one. They would probably get ruined.”  
  
“Oh, good thinking.” Mark nodded. He didn’t want to even try washing his clothes in the sink, already imagining them washing down the drain. “Assuming they work, of course?”

 

“Of course they do!” Jack said, acting offended. “Oh! And speaking of clothes. Maybe we should get you some new ones.” Jack suggested.

 

“Well, are you sure they’d fit?” Mark asked, glancing around for the doll clothing section. He was worried clothes designed for a doll wouldn’t be the most comfortable.

 

Jack shrugged. “I guess there is only one way to find out.” Jack grabbed a handful of some random clothes and dumped them in front of Mark.

 

“Woah, okay.” Mark stepped back a bit, surprised. He began sorting through the clothes, looking for ones that resembled normal clothing. A lot of it was covered in frills and lace cleary meant to appease little girls. Eventually though, Mark found what appeared to be a few normal t-shirts and a pair of pants. Mark didn’t feel comfortable actually trying them on out in the open, but held them up to his body and saw they seemed to be the right length. The inner fabric was slightly coarse, but nothing he could not handle.

“Yeah, these might work.” Mark nodded, holding out the few he chose to Jack.

 

“Great! Throw them in with the rest of the stuff.” Jack chuckled. He vaguely wondered how much this was gonna cost, but didn’t bother thinking about it too much. Mark needed most of this stuff after all.

“Anything else catch your attention?” Jack asked, scanning the shelves.

  
Mark walked up and down the shelf, giving everything one last glance. In the back of the section meant for doll’s toys, there was what appeared to be a skateboard without wheels. It was as long as Mark was tall, but seemed to have a sort of green glow. Mark took it up in two hands, finding it to be surprisingly light.  
“What’s this?” Mark asked, walking back out into the open.  
  


Jack turned to see what Mark was talking about and beamed at what he had in his hands. “Oh man, you’re going to love this.” Jack chuckled. He held out a hand towards Mark.

“You’re gonna want to be on the floor for this.”

  
“What, does this grow or something?” Mark raised one eyebrow in confusion, stepping onto Jack’s hand. He examined the object more closely.

 

“Not exactly,” Jack placed Mark on the floor. “Alright, now step on top of it and stomp hard on the board twice.” Jack explained. He sat back and watched.

 

Mark was slightly nervous, but he trusted Jack. Setting the board on the ground, Mark climbed on top like it was a skateboard. Doing as Jack said, Mark stomped twice on the board as hard as he could.

“Woah!” Mark exclaimed, crouching down for balance as the board began to float in the air. It stopped just a few feet off the ground, and Mark slowly stood back up.

“It’s a hoverboard?!” Mark grinned, carefully trying to lean forward to propel the device. At first it didn’t recognize his movement, so he leaned forward as far as he could. This proved to be too far, as the board began to zoom down the hall at top speed. Mark let out a startled shriek, losing his balance and tumbling off the board.

 

“Mark!” Jack ran over to where Mark lay on the ground, scooping him up in a gentle hold. He was really glad there weren’t any people in here today.

“Are you okay?”

 

Mark, though out of breath, was in the middle of a laughing fit. “That was awesome!” Mark exclaimed. “Of course, I’ll have to see if I can re-calibrate the motor, but ah, man, that is so cool.” He smiled up at Jack, showing he was A-okay.

 

Jack grinned and grabbed the hoverboard. “Well, clearly we’re adding this then.” He chuckled and stood to his full height. He looked around and then down at the basket full of stuff they found.

“Guess that’s everything...Oh!” Jack went over towards the end of the aisle and picked up a small toilet and sink. “I think these might come in handy.” He placed them in the basket.

“Now that’s everything.”

 

“Alright, let’s get going then.” Mark said, now eager to get home and mess around with the hoverboard. “Pocket time!”

 

Jack chuckled and placed Mark in his pocket before heading towards the front to pay for the items. The same lady from before was up there and she gave him a kind smile.

“Find everything for your niece?” Jack blinked, temporarily confused before remembering his cover story.

“Oh, yeah! Yeah, she is obsessed with dolls and all that stuff, so ya know.” he shrugged and allowed the lady to ring up all the stuff.

“Alright, that will be $215.45.” Jack’s eyes widened at the total. Geez, toys were expensive these days. He sighed and shook the thoughts away before handing the lady his card. It was a good thing his job paid well.

 

Mark cringed when he heard the amount, but was relieved when Jack made no comment. He knew it was a lot and appreciated Jack’s kindness. Although, in a way, this did make Mark a little more literally in debt to Jack. He hoped Jack wasn’t the kind of person to keep count, as there was no way Mark could ever repay everything Jack had already done for him.

 

He waved goodbye to the lady and left the store, the bell going off once again. The bag full of Mark’s things was at his side and his package was in there as well. He got his phone out and texted the cab.

“Alright, time to head home!"


	14. Teamiplier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team's rescue mission doesn't turn out as planned...

She had noticed it on the radar about a lightyear back. A big dot. She didn’t think much of it though, thinking it might have been a sun near the planet they were trying to get to. But now, she realized she was wrong. Oh so very wrong. A giant planet, one that looked a lot like earth was right in front of them, taking up their entire view. To make matters worse, Amy felt a tug on the ship. The atmosphere was too powerful for their tiny ship and was pulling them in, fast.

“Guys! I think we have a problem!” Amy yelled out as she tried pulling with all her might on the steering, but to no avail.

“Kathryn, turn on the reverse thrusters!” Tyler ordered, rushing over to take a look at Amy’s screen. Kathryn immediately began pressing buttons at her control panel at top speed, looking up to see if there was any change a moment later.

“It’s not working!” Kathryn explained, trying again. “The gravitational pull of the planet is too strong.”

Amy bit her lip and decided to change their course of action. “Ethan! Bring up Mark’s last coordinates on the main screen!” Ethan blinked before doing as told, the coordinates appearing on the screen. Amy’s eyes narrowed and she grit her teeth.

“Hang on everyone!” She pushed the steering forward, propelling them towards Mark’s location on the planet.

“AAAAAAAAAH!” The rest of the crew yelled, Kathryn and Ethan desperately clinging to their control panels as Tyler was flung back into his seat, the ship rapidly accelerating towards the surface. Tyler quickly buckled himself in, knowing it would only get worse from here.  
The interior cabin began to feel very hot as the outside bulk of the ship crashed through the upper layers of the planet’s atmosphere.

“Warning: Exterior Hull damage detected.” Carl, the ship’s automated voice spoke up as the emergency red lights began to flash, accompanied by the annoying shrill of sirens. “Warning: Extreme Pressures detected. Warning: reaching maximum safe acceleration limit.”

Amy waited with baited breath as the ground came closer and closer. When they were no more than several feet away from impact she pulled up.

“Prepare for impact!” The ship hit the ground with a loud and hard thud.

Tyler felt his head whip forward at the sudden impact, groaning at the pain in his neck. Thank goodness he had been wearing the seat belt, or else by now he’d be strewn across the windows.

“Is everyone alright?” Tyler called out, unbuckling to access the damage.

Amy pushed down the airbag. The impact had hurt, but thankfully not as much as it could have. None of them seemed to be dead at least. She unbuckled and stood on wobbly feet, forced to place a hand on the back of her chair to steady herself.

“I’m good.” She said as she made her way to them. Ethan groaned against his control panel and rubbed his face with a sore hand. He stood looking around the ship.

“Compared to the ship, I say we got off pretty good.” The ship itself was a total mess, everything was thrown one way or another. He didn’t even want to see what the outside looked like.

“Kathryn, can you give me a damage report?” Tyler asked, turning to his technician. Kathryn raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

“Uh…” Kathryn tried poking at the communications system, only to watch it fall apart at her touch. “Damage report: everything is broken.”

“Come on, guys.” Tyler urged. “We’re all alive, and I know somewhere out there Mark is too. We need to gather up what supplies we can and go out there to perform a rescue mission. I’ll admit it’s looking pretty bad, but if we stick together we’ll get through this. No man left behind.”

“Or woman!” Kathryn added on.

“Or woman.” Tyler agreed, nodding.

Ethan went straight for the med kits, packing four away in separate bags. Amy left for another room to go get their emergency packs only to come back a second later.

“Tyler! I need help over here. The wardrobe is blocking the door.”

“On it.” Tyler followed Amy, pushing the wardrobe out of the way with his shoulder.

“Thanks.” Amy nodded at him and then proceeded to grab their four emergency packs. They met back in the main area.

“I think that’s everything. Right?” Ethan asks as he places the bags containing med-kits down for everyone to grab their own. He mostly looked to Tyler for the answer.

“Yes, thank you Ethan.” Tyler nodded. He picked up his own pack, throwing it over his shoulder. “Alright guys, we don’t know what’s out there. Mark seemed concerned about this place, so everyone keep an eye out. Stay hidden and stay safe. You’re no help to Mark if you’re dead.” With this happy thought, Tyler forced the main entrance open and the crew got their first real view of the planet.

Ethan blinked in shock as he took his first steps onto the planet's surface. “Holy crap.” The scenery itself would be familiar--they seemed to be in some sort of forest or woods, surrounded by trees--except for the fact that everything towered over them. Like no tree back home did. They were like bugs on the ground compared to this world.

Amy followed Ethan’s lead as she, too, stared around them in both awe and terror. Mark’s earlier message flashed in her mind.

“Oh gosh. Some giant alien has Mark, doesn’t it!” Of course they still weren’t sure what the aliens here looked like. But they could be nothing if not huge based on the sheer size of the planet and how little they were in comparison.

“We can’t jump to conclusions,” Tyler answered, pushing through the shoulder-high grass, “but it sure looks likely.” Tyler began to survey their surroundings, only to spot a giant house in the distance. He pointed to it. “There. That’s as good a place to start looking for Mark as any, especially if he was found by the inhabitants.”

They started walking the long distance to the house. As they got closer, Ethan noticed something.

“It looks like a normal log cabin, like from earth.” He looked to the others to see if they were seeing what he was seeing.

“Shh!” Tyler quieted the young navigator, looking around. “We don’t want to draw any more attention to ourselves.” Tyler led the others up to the door. Listening for a moment, he gave an all clear signal and army crawled under the door, waiting for the others to follow.

They all army crawled under the door one by one. As they stood, Ethan once again took a look where they were.

“Now we’re in a giant kitchen! Did we shrink and crash land on earth or something?” The kitchen itself, though they could only see the bottom half from where they stood, was like any average kitchen you would find on earth. It was a bit unsettling, at least for Ethan, being small in such a familiar environment.

“Ethan, what did Tyler just say about talking?!” Kathryn said in an angry whisper, giving Ethan a glare.

Tyler tried to put on a brave face in a world so large, staying strong for his teammates. “Alright, I think we’ll need to split up to cover more ground.” Tyler recommended. “Kathryn, you’re with Ethan.”

“What, why am I with Ethan?” Kathryn argued. “He’s gonna get me killed!” Ethan turned to her, looking offended.

“Hey!”

“Fine, I’ll go with Ethan.” Tyler sighed. “We’ll go left, you and Amy go right. Deal?”

“Deal.” Kathryn agreed.

As the girls went right to start searching, Ethan caught up to Tyler as he was already starting to go left. He looked around as they left the kitchen, now in some sort of living room. He saw Amy and Kathryn turn down a long hallway, disappearing from his sights. He bit his lip.

“It doesn’t really seem like any giants are here right now.” The house was mostly silent, other than a faint humming noise, but Ethan didn’t feel the need to dwell on it.

\------------------------

Jason crouched down on the front porch. The others gathered around. “Alright.” Jason ordered. “Steve, Rodger, you two creep around the back to block off the door. Martin, scan the perimeter.”

“Yes sir.” The men agreed, immediately getting to work. Jason smiled to himself, pulling out his laptop.

“Let’s see how our little visitor is doing, shall we Sam?” Jason sneered, booting up the surveillance bot to scan the house.

\--------------------

“Wait.” Tyler put his arm out to stop Ethan from walking any further. The whirring noise was getting louder, as if it was quickly approaching. “What’s that?”

The two froze, not daring to move an inch as what looked to be a giant mechanical floating eyeball came around the corner, turning to stare right at them.

Ethan instinctively grabbed onto Tyler’s arm. “Is that a giant eyeball?” Ethan said, remembering to whisper this time, although it was more out of fear. He was slowly but surely retreating behind Tyler.

“Do you think that’s what has Mark?” Ethan asked, not taking his eyes off the eyeball. The eyeball that was still just looking at them.

\------------------------------

“There you are!” Jason said, viewing them through the camera lens. “Wait a second…” He squinted, leaning closer to the screen. “There’s two of them? Oh, Mason’s gonna be thrilled. Okay Sam, capture.” This last command was typed into the computer before Jason began to pick at the door lock, not trusting the young bot to finish the job alone.

\-----------------------

Before Tyler could answer Ethan’s question, the green eye made an angry whirring noise and seemed to glare at them.

“Run!” Tyler commanded, grabbing Ethan’s arm and dashing in the opposite direction.

As they ran towards the hallway, Ethan looked toward Tyler. “I hope the girls are doing better than we are!”

\--------------------------

Amy stood in the doorway of what appeared to be a normal looking bedroom. The door at been wide open, something she was grateful for. The door itself would have been impossible to open otherwise. It was nothing like the wooden door they had crawled under to get inside the house.

She scanned the room, starting in her line of sight on the floor and then going up. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw something on the nightstand. Something that seemed very familiar. She turned to Kathryn, eyes wide.

“Up there! Isn’t that Mark’s ship!”

“You’re right!” Kathryn said, looking up. “But if it got all the way up there, then…” Kathryn gave her friend a sympathetic look. “Well, it’s not looking likely that Mark managed to stay hidden. The alien must have found it.”

“Maybe he did. We can’t just assume things.” She took another look at the nightstand and finally noticed the piece of rope hanging from it. “Look! That-that has to be Mark’s! Maybe…” She trailed off and took a deep breath.

“We need to check out his ship.” She started toward the nightstand, rummaging through her pack to get out the climbing gear, but stopped when she heard a loud whirring sound.

“What the…” She turned around, only to be met with Tyler and Ethan running into the room.

“Look out!” Tyler said as he crashed into Amy, both of them tumbling to the floor.

“What are you two doing?” Kathryn hissed. “We’re supposed to be sneaking around, what if someone is home?"

“Oh, someone is home alright!” Ethan practically shouted. He turned back around when the noise got louder to see the giant eyeball had caught up with them. Amy stood and backed away when she saw what Ethan was talking about.

“What is that thing?”

“Not friendly.” Tyler replied, getting up. “Come on guys, we’ve gotta move!”

Amy looked around. “Move where!?” She took notice of Mark’s ship again. “Wait! Guys, maybe we could climb up and hide in Mark’s ship!” Ethan followed Amy’s line of sight.

“Wait, you found Mark’s ship?” He asked, already moving closer to the nightstand in favor of Amy’s idea.

“Less questions, more action.” Tyler advised, although he too was surprised. “Ethan, you climb that rope as fast as you can while the rest of us keep it distracted.”

Ethan noticed the rope already hanging there and nodded before jumping and gripping the rope tight. He planted his feet on the nightstand and started climbing up. As he was doing that, Amy noticed the eyeball look straight to Ethan. A faint red glow started around the edges of its eye. Her own eyes widened as she realized what it was doing.

“Ethan! Look out!” Ethan looked down at Amy before looking towards the eyeball. The faint red glow was now a searing red and before Ethan could react, it fired. He yelled in pain as the laser cut the top of his rope, getting his hands in the process. He fell to the floor with a loud and painful thud. He groaned in pain.

“Ethan!” Tyler rushed over, immediately followed by the girls. “Ethan, are you okay?” As the team fussed over their youngest member, the ground began to tremble in a regular pattern. Tyler looked at Kathryn in unease. That could only be the footsteps of the homeowner. A moment later, a true giant entered the doorway, grinning maliciously down at the space explorers.

“Gotcha.” Jason smirked down at them. Before the team could react they were plunged into darkness and tossed about as Jason scooped them all up in a handheld cage. Jason put on the lid, grinning at his prize while hearing the sounds of their frantic struggles inside.

“Sir, we found this out back.” Steve said, entering with Rodger and the remnants of the team’s ship.

“Excellent.” Jason nodded towards the Mark’s ship on the nightstand. “Rodger, you grab that one. We’ll do one last quick search of the premises and then head back to base.”

As the men did as instructed and searched the house, Jason turned to the little robotic eye looking up at him like a puppy.

“Good work, Sam.” Jason said, giving the robot a small pat. “Stay on the lookout for more of them, okay? We don’t want any of these valuable specimens to escape.” Sam gave a little happy whir of understanding.  
Jason’s attention came back to his prisoners when their struggles seemed to increase tenfold. He gave the cage a teasing shake. “Oh, Mason’s going to be so very glad to see you.” Jason chuckled.


	15. Welcome Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Mark get back, only to discover Mark's ship is gone.

The ride home was once again silent. Jack holding onto the bags full of not only Mark’s new things, but the package he needed for work. Mark was hauled up in his pocket again, keeping out of sight of the taxi driver. The car pulled off where it had picked him up and Jack paid the driver, grabbing the bags. He watched as the car sped away and started on the short walk home. 

 

“So, I know some things didn’t exactly go as planned, but what do you think?” Jack asked, glancing toward his pocket.

 

 

“What, of the planet?” Mark joked. “It’s scary, giant, and weirdly advanced. So pretty much everything I expected.”

 

 

Jack chuckled and finally made it to his house. As he dug for his keys, he noticed something off about the front door. Eyebrows furrowed, he pushed on the door. It swung open.

 

“Well, that’s not good,” Jack muttered to himself.

 

“What’s not good?” Mark asked, trying to poke his head out of the pocket. 

 

 

“The door was open.” He answered as he entered his home cautiously. He didn’t immediately see anything wrong and set down the bags on the kitchen table.

 

“I mean, I probably just didn’t close it. But, still.” Now he was afraid there was someone in his house.

 

 

Mark tried to remember if Jack had closed the door, but his mind at that moment had been preoccupied with the fear of going out in public. Mark ducked down further into the pocket, trying his hardest to stay still and out of sight. Jack’s unease was making him feel uneasy too.

 

 

Jack decided to keep Mark in his pocket as he moved through his house. So far it seemed empty, with no signs of anyone having been there- other than himself, of course. His last stop was his bedroom and he walked in and looked around. Sam was still there which was a relief, but his relief was short lived when he noticed the empty nightstand. 

 

“Oh no.” Not only was Mark’s ship gone, but that also meant that someone had indeed been inside his house and had a pretty good idea about Mark’s existence. This was bad.

 

 

“What is it?” Mark half-whispered, staying quiet but speaking up just enough for Jack to hear him. Whatever was happening didn’t sound good. He hit Jack’s chest through the pocket to make sure he had Jack’s attention. “What’s wrong?”

 

 

Jack looked around once more, making sure no one was in the house anymore. He then reached a hand in the pocket and scooped Mark out. He motioned toward the nightstand.

 

“Someone was definitely here.” Jack said. He wondered how Mark was going to react to his ship being gone.

 

 

Mark blinked.

 

Mark blinked again.

 

Mark rubbed at his eyes, trying to make sure he was really seeing what he was seeing.

 

“My ship.” Mark said slowly. “My ship- it’s gone.” 

 

Panic beginning to set in, Mark began to frantically run his hands through his hair.

 

“Oh my god, it’s gone!” Mark screeched. “Somebody took it! They know i’m here! I’m going to be gawked and prodded like a science experiment and treated no better than a rat before inevitably being tossed to the streets. I’m never getting home, am I? I’ll never see Chica or Amy or Ethan or any of my friends ever again.” Mark’s eyes began to water as he pictured his bleak future. He sniffed. “Oh, I’m sorry Chica. Daddy’s not coming home.”

  

Jack’s heart began to break as he watched Mark having his breakdown. His own eyes started tearing up as Mark talked about his friends and family. In what he hoped was a comforting gesture, he moved his hands closer together, so Mark was now in a sort of cocoon.

 

“Hey, it’s okay. None of that stuff is gonna happen. I won’t let it.” He hesitated for a moment, before running a finger down his back. “And you’ll get home. Everything will be okay.” Of course he couldn’t guarantee anything, but he would try his hardest to make sure everything ended up happy.

 

 

Mark wanted to just shove Jack away and yell how everything was not going to be okay, but it had been a long day. Mark was too tired to fight back, and in all honesty it was kind of nice to remember he had one friend in this messed up life. Mark sat there as Jack stroked his back, his breathing coming out more as heavy sobs while he calmed down.

“Sorry.” Mark croaked. “It’s just a lot to take in, all the time.”

 

 

Jack nodded, not knowing what else to say. He couldn’t exactly relate to Mark about all this. Of course he could get where he was coming from, but he would never know what it’s like to be in a world not made for you. Where everything is just so big and overwhelming and your only friend in this world is also big and overwhelming. 

 

“I think I’m gonna check the backside of the house. Maybe the people who took your ship left something behind. Do you wanna come with me or stay here for a bit?” Jack figured Mark might want a bit of alone time right now. He wouldn’t exactly blame him if he did.

 

 

“I think I need a minute to collect myself.” Mark said, wrapping his arms around himself. “You go on without me, i’ll be fine.”

 

 

“Alright, sounds good. I shouldn’t be too long, hopefully.” He looked around the room before glancing back at Mark.

 

“Um, bed or floor?” Jack asked, not knowing where to put him.

 

 

“The floor is fine.” Mark answered, tired of always having to rely on Jack to get anywhere. Maybe he’d feel a bit better if he was walking around on his own two feet again after being carried all day.

 

Jack nodded and set Mark down on the floor, he made to leave but paused in the doorway to give Mark one last look and comforting smile.

 

“I’ll be back, shout if you need me.” He chuckled lightly and left, leaving the door open.

 

Mark laid down on the ground, staring up at the ceiling far, far above him. He wanted to cry but his tear ducts felt dry all of a sudden. Instead, his breathing began to slow from shallow gasps to deep breaths. 

The sound of wheels turning and gears clicking caught Mark’s attention. Looking to his left, Sam the creepy little robot seemed to be waking up. It’s giant gaze fixed directly on Mark.

“Hey.” Mark gave it a nod in greeting. Was it just his imagination, or was Sam now glaring at him? Mark sat up, feeling on edge. “Sam, it’s just me. Don’t give me that look.” Sam seemed to ignore Mark’s words. If anything, Sam seemed to become more agitated. It let out an angry whirring sound, the edges of it’s green eye glowing red.

“Sam?” Mark asked, tensing up his muscles, getting ready to bolt. The eye became a fiery red, and Mark managed to roll out of the way just as a laser burned in a hole in the carpet where he was laying just a moment prior. Mark jumped to his feet, ducking behind the bedpost as Sam recharged.

“Okay, what to do…” Mark drummed his fingers against his leg nervously. Sam obviously was not enjoying the roommate situation, but maybe Jack could help. Of course, he was all the way across the house. But, since Sam seemed to take a while to recharge, Mark might have just enough time to dash across the room to get Jack’s attention. 

Another blast shot straight through the post above Mark’s head, making Mark let out an unmanly yelp. It was now or never.

Mark dashed out from the cover of the bed, running as fast as his tiny legs would carry him towards the hall. Sam let out an annoyed whir, quick to pursue him. Thank goodness Jack seemed to be in the habit of leaving the doors open now or Mark would have been trapped. He ran into the hallway, Sam hot on his heels. Mark recognized the quiet buzz signalling another blast, and he dove to the right in the nick of time. A sizable burn was left in the floorboards where Mark once stood. 

Mark picked up the pace, not sure how long he could hold up the stamina required for running and dodging at the same time. Reaching the living room, he could see Jack outside through the back door in the kitchen. Would he even be able to hear him? 

“JACK!” Mark screamed, now add yelling to his list of actions quickly burning through his adrenaline. “JACK, HELP!”


	16. Friends and foes?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That awkward moment when your best friends try to kill each other. #relatable

Jack looked around the back, hoping to find something that would point to who broke into his house and took Mark’s ship, but whoever had done it seemed to be clean. Except for the door being open part. Another look at it before he had gone to the back told him the lock had been picked. A clean job but there had still been a few marks around the edge.

 

He was just about to go farther out when he heard something akin to Sam’s laser go off inside the house. Shortly after, he heard his name and a cry for a help. _Mark_. Jack practically ran back into the house only to be met with the sight of Sam shooting at and chasing Mark. He furrowed his eyebrows at Sam’s actions. What the heck has gotten into it?

 

“Sam! Stop it!” To his confusion and horror, Sam ignored him and instead charged another blast at Mark. He watched Mark dodge it, but it was clear he was tiring out. Without knowing what else to do, Jack waited until Sam got a bit closer and Mark ran a bit farther away before tackling Sam and holding it in his arms. He was forced to hold on tight as Sam continued to try and struggle out of his arms, trying to get to Mark. He glanced at him.

“What the heck happened?!”

 

 

Mark stopped running when the ground shook with an enormous thud, and looking back he saw Jack was struggling to keep Sam back. Mark panted, backing up a few steps for good measure.

“I don’t know!” Mark screeched. “One moment I’m contemplating life, the next your little mechanical hybrid baby is trying to blast my head off!”

 

 

“It’s not usually like this.” Jack grunted out as Sam’s struggles became more rabid as Mark talked. “Come on buddy, it’s just Mark. He’s a friend, remember?” Jack tried, but it was no use. Sam continued to ignore him. Jack decided he had to turn it off and give it some down time, but as he struggled to look at Sam, he realized something.

 

“It-it doesn’t have an off switch.” How had he not noticed that before?

 

 

“So it is a computerized lifeform.” Mark hypothesized. “It doesn’t have an off switch because people don’t have off-switches. All we do is...die.” Mark gulped at the idea that either he or Sam was not getting out of this alive.

 

 

Jack’s thoughts swam with what Mark just said. His mind was already made up, but he still didn’t want to do it. Sam was his little buddy. His only companion in this empty house long before Mark had shown up. It hurt him, knowing what he had to do. With Sam still ignoring him and apparently out for Mark’s blood it was really the only decision to make.

 

Jack took a deep breath and whacked Sam to the floor, holding him there. Sam’s whirring skipped a beat, but it still continued to struggle. Jack glared, fighting off the tears as he ripped Sam’s panel off. Without giving himself a chance to hesitate, Jack stuck his hand in and ripped a clump of wires out. It spark and Sam spazzed out for several moments before falling limp. It’s giant eyeball closed.

 

Jack breathed heavily, looking down at Sam. He discarded the wires to the side, not noticing and not caring about the small burns on his hand from the sparks. He wiped his eyes and looked up to find Mark.

 

“A-are you okay?” Jack asked, trying not to think about what he had just done.

 

 

“Uh, yeah.” Mark nodded, eyes still wide in disbelief at what had just happened. “Yeah, I’m okay.” In all honesty, watching Jack tear up Sam like that was terrifying. Watching him bend such thick pieces of metal and rip out industrial wiring like it was nothing...He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Are um, are you okay Jack?”

 

 

Jack blinked and looked back down at Sam. He let out a dry chuckle. “No, not really. But I had to do it. Whatever had gotten into Sam, it wanted to hurt you.” Jack sighed and picked Sam up. It seemed heavier now somehow. Jack didn’t want to think too much of it. He stood and placed the lifeless Sam on his computer desk. He stared at it for several long seconds before moving back over to Mark. He lowered himself back down to the ground again.

 

“I honestly have no idea what that was about.”

 

 

Mark looked up at Sam’s hollowed form sitting on the desk far above him, also curious what had gotten into the once friendly robot. It had been creepy and stalker-ish at times, sure, but never truly hostile.

“You know, I happen to know a lot about technology.” Mark said, turning to face Jack. “I was going to become a space engineer before I ended up a pilot. Maybe if I take a look at Sam’s internal coding system, I can figure out why he was acting so strange.”

 

 

Jack nodded. “Yeah, and I think I know enough to hook up Sam to the computer.” He glanced once more at Sam and his computer and nodded again.

 

“Alright, hop on.” He placed his hand a few inches in front of Mark. Still not entirely aware of the burn marks on his hand.

 

 

“Woah!” Mark said, immediately noticing the wounds at his size. “Jack, are you sure you’re okay? You’re hands aren’t looking so good, buddy.”

 

 

“Huh?” Jack finally took notice of the burns on his hand. He flexed it and a shot of pain went through it. He grit his teeth.

 

“I’ll take care of it later.” He switched his hands, now offering Mark the unburned one. He smiled down at Mark. “I’ll be fine for now.”

 

 

“Jeez, Jack.” Mark shook his head, but climbed on. He didn’t approve of Jack’s lack of self-care.

 

 

Jack stood and carried Mark over to the desk, setting him down on it. He then swiped a hand across the desk, turning on the computer. A light blue glow came forth from the desk and formed his holo screen. Pressing a few buttons on the screen, a hole opened up on the desk, revealing a port.

 

 

“Woah.” Mark said, watching Jack work his technological magic. Mark could only pray the inside of Sam was something vaguely resembling technology on Earth. He peered in over the open edge, looking at a mess of panels, computer chips, wires, and unrecognizable glowing objects or floating bits and pieces. Okay, so almost manageable. Mark hefted himself over to the edge to examine the parts that looked familiar.

 

 

Jack chuckled when he heard Mark’s ‘woah’ and turned toward him. “What? You don’t have holo screens on earth?” It was such a normal thing for him, it was strange to think Mark didn’t even know what it was. He watched Mark as he took a look inside of Sam.

 

“Do you see a USB type cord in there?” Jack asked.

 

 

“Um, let’s see…” Mark dug around in the entangled wires, staying clear of the sparking bits where Jack had ripped them. At the very bottom Mark found the requested wire, looking as familiar as ever if not a little large.

 

“Here you go!” Mark used both hands to hold it up in Jack’s direction.

 

 

Jack smiled and took it out of Mark’s hands. “Thanks!” He put it in the port and tapped a few more things on the screen. He hummed when he couldn’t find where the USB was. He liked to think he was pretty good at computers, having built his current one from scratch, but it just didn’t seem like the USB file was showing up.

 

“Hey, I know you're probably more of an engineer. But I need help finding Sam’s USB file.” He made a motion with his hands and the screen shrunk down in size, he then left it floating in front of Mark, so he could mess around with it.

 

 

“Okay, this is fine.” Mark was a bit overwhelmed with the flashing screen suddenly in his face. Everything looked so different. He gave the screen an experimental tap, happy to note it seemed to be operating like a touch screen. After some careful digging through what he hopped was the correct system, he found what seemed to be the data coming from Sam. Mark noticed there was one file under the title ‘surveillance’, but when opened produced an error message. Mark frowned, looking around at Sam’s hardware to find a blocker manually attached to the computer chip.

 

“That must be jamming the signal.” Mark realized, walking over to the box. Using his knife, Mark carefully pried the blocker off of the chip. Only after did he realize it wasn’t the brightest plan to use a metal knife near so much hazardous technology, but thankfully nothing happened.

 

Returning to the screen, Mark gave the file another try and came across an archive of what looked to be video files dating back a few months.

 

“I think I found something.” Mark called up to Jack.

 

 

“Oh?” Jack made another motion and the screen returned to normal size. He looked over the list of video files.

 

“What the-someone's been spying on me this whole time!” Jack shouted, angry about his privacy being invaded. The files dated as far back as the first day Jack had gotten Sam.

 

“Who the heck…” he trailed off. Maybe it was a bit his fault for taking in a random robot, but still. Sam had always been such a sweetie. He had no reason to even suspect that it had been recording him and sending him to who knows where.

 

He went through the files, going to the most recent ones. He played one from the day before and saw himself introducing Mark to Sam. Meaning whoever had been controlling Sam had known about Mark almost as long as he had.

 

“This is just sick.” He really couldn’t get over the fact that someone was out there, just watching him. He went through more of the videos before coming across one that said it had happened while they were away. Curious, Jack clicked on it.

 

 

“Wait a second- oh no.” Mark visibly paled at the sight of a familiar blue-haired boy. “Ethan. Aw, not Tyler too! What the heck?!” Only now did Mark remember the warning signal he had sent out a few days before.

 

 

“Wait. Is this your team you were talking about? They were here? How!?” Jack asked as the video continued to show Ethan and Tyler being chased around.

 

 

“I, uh, may have sent them a distress call yesterday.” Mark admitted. He watched through the eyes of Sam as Tyler crashed right into Amy. Mark let out a gasp. “Oh no, Amy. And Kathryn, oh no, they shouldn’t be here. They came to try and rescue me. This is all my fault.”

 

 

Jack thought back to when Mark would have called for help. It was probably right before he had found him inside his ship. Before Mark realized that Jack wouldn’t hurt him. So of course his team would come to save him.

 

“That’s not your fault.” Jack said, voicing his thoughts. “You’re their friend. You would have done the same thing if it was one of them in your place. No matter the danger.” If Sam hadn’t apparently been controlled, then everything would have been fine. Of course Jack wouldn’t have hurt them and Mark might’ve even had a way home. But as they continued to watch the video, Jack knew where this was going.

 

 

“Oh no.” Mark said, watching Ethan appear on-screen as he heard the familiar buzzing of the laser charging up. A moment later, chaos broke out as a scream of pain echoed through the speakers.

 

“ETHAN!” Mark couldn’t help crying out, worried for his youngest member.  If Ethan had gotten fatally wounded, Mark was never going to forgive himself. He couldn’t tell if Ethan was alright, because the camera shifted from his team to another giant entering the room.

 

 

Jack flinched when he watched Mark’s friend, Ethan, fall. He hoped he was okay, but his mind went elsewhere for a moment when someone else entered the room. And from Sam’s spot on the floor, Jack felt like he was getting a pretty good view of what Mark usually saw with him. And it was freakin’ terrifying.

 

He didn’t recognize the man himself, but the small logo on his jacket happened to be the same company Jack worked for. Jack didn’t think that was a coincidence. They continued watching as the man captured them all. The video ended as Sam went back to its charging station.


	17. Words in Anger

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...are best left unsaid.

“This is all my fault.” Mark repeated, staring shell-shocked at the blank screen.

“No, it’s not.” Jack said, not even glancing down at Mark. His hand clenched into a fist. “We didn’t know there was someone spying on us, on me, this whole time.” There was clearly anger in his voice. Anger towards the people that, if his hunch was right, he worked for.

“But why?” Mark asked, climbing out of Sam’s shell to be closer to Jack. Not to be rude, but there wasn’t anything about Jack that was specifically remarkable or dangerous. “Why would they want to spy on you, Jack?”

“I don’t know! Cause I might work for them? But that isn’t even the point!” Jack hit the table with his fist in anger. He wasn’t even sure why he was so angry at this. Maybe it was because of Mark. If he had found out on his own, without Mark here, he would have been upset but not this angry. The fact that they spied on him and captured Mark’s friends was what got him so riled up. He’ll admit, he didn’t really have many friends, and definitely none who were close, but no one messed with them and got away with it.

Mark jumped about a foot in the air in fear as the entire table shook with Jack’s rage. He had hit the table dangerously close to Mark, shaking him to the core. Mark had forgotten how weak and vulnerable he was compared to Jack. Mark quickly backed up a few paces, now frightened to put himself in range of Jack’s hands.

“J-Jack?” Mark hated how his voice shook.

Jack froze in his anger at the sound of a tiny, shaky voice. He pulled his eyes away from the screen and glanced down at the desk. There he saw Mark, backed up a few steps and practically cowering. He blinked and looked at his hand, which was still in the shape of a fist. He realized exactly what he had done.

His anger took a backseat as guilt welled up within him. He was so stupid. He usually never got this angry, heck, he was hardly ever angry at all. But the one time he was, he let himself forget about the person he was mad for and went a tad too far.

He groaned and rubbed his face with both hands. “I’m sorry,” he muttered softly. His anger might have been pushed back, but he still needed a few more seconds to calm down before trying anything more. At the moment, he didn’t exactly trust himself near Mark.

Mark just stared at his clearly apologetic friend as he took a second to recover. Mark knew Jack had just been caught up in his emotions, but Mark’s life was constantly at risk on this planet. He didn’t have time for dangerous fits of passion. Jack needed to keep his cool at all times.

Mark thought for a moment what would have happened if he had been standing a little bit to the right, directly in the path of Jack’s fist. Would he have been fatally injured? Would he have been crushed instantly? Mark shuddered, taking yet another step back. No matter how sorry Jack was, Mark wasn’t sure he was ready to forgive him yet.

Jack took some deep breaths, before deeming himself calm once again. He was still angry and upset at the people who had taken Mark’s friends, of course, but it was much more controlled now. His hands went to rest on the desk and he looked at Mark.

“Are you okay?” He’s noticed he asks that quite a bit more than he should.

Mark looked at Jack’s hand resting on the desk before slowly shaking his head, not trusting himself to speak yet. He didn’t want to say something he regretted, especially since it could easily rile Jack up again to dangerous levels.

Jack frowned and took his hands off the desk, now extremely conscious of his hands. He really messed up, more than the syrup accident earlier that morning. He could have literally crushed Mark just then, without even knowing. He deserved Mark’s fear.

“Oh. I, ah, I mean I didn’t….I just…” he trailed off. He couldn’t find any words to say to make the situation better.

“You just what?” Mark suddenly spoke, trying to mask his fear with anger of his own. “Come on, say it. You’re always so freaking loud that it hurts my eardrums but suddenly when it’s an important talk and not just you fawning over something tiny, you can’t even talk to me? Is that it? I’m just a little toy you were afraid of breaking? Not to mention, you seem more pissed that someone’s been watching you eat frozen waffles than the fact that my closest friends were just kidnapped and one of them might be dead.”

“What?” Jack managed, taken back by Mark’s sudden outburst.

“Oh I’m sorry, do I need to be louder?” Mark was shouting now. “Is this better? Can your giant head hear my tiny voice? Because honestly, it doesn’t seem like you’ve ever been listening to me! You’re too caught up in your own agenda to ever consider how much pressure I’ve been under ever since you had the nerve to destroy my ship.”

Jack’s fists clenched at his side. “You think I don’t care? The whole reason I’m angry is because I care!” His anger was quickly returning with Mark’s little spiel, but this time it was focused on Mark. Jack was too angry to see how quickly this could go wrong.

“And I listen! Yeah, sure, I fawn, but can you blame me? You’re the one who's not supposed to be here in the first place!” Jack’s anger was uncontrollable now.

“In fact, I was being nice by treating you like a person! Do you know how many others wouldn’t hesitate to treat you like nothing more than some animal? And yet you’re complaining!? I could have made you my pet! In fact…” Jack reached out his hand and grabbed Mark in his fist before bringing him up to his eyes.

“Maybe I should do just that, huh? Who's gonna stop me from keeping you here? You?”

“You wouldn’t!” Mark couldn’t help shaking as he screamed in Jack’s face, but he refused to be viewed as a vulnerable pet any longer. He crossed his fingers and prayed that Jack was indeed bluffing. He tried to ignore the pains in his sides from Jack’s incredibly tight grip.

Jack raised an angry eyebrow. “Oh yeah? Maybe I’m tired of being the nice guy. After all, all I’ve gotten for my troubles is your anger and fear. So, why not give you a reason?” Jack stormed into his kitchen and yanked open a cupboard. He grabbed a tall glass and set it down on the kitchen table before roughly depositing Mark inside of it. As Jack had expected, it was too high for him to reach the top.

“Believe me now?”

Mark scrambled to stand up as he was tossed to the bottom of the glass, gaining bruises from where he hit the walls. He jumped to try and reach the edge of the glass, but it was too high. Mark reached for his grappling hook, only to remember he had left it on the edge of the nightstand. It was probably long gone with his team by now.  
Mark glared up at Jack, trying not to be intimidated by the view. It was very creepy to see his once friend turn into such a monster. What had happened to sweet, caring Jack who was patient and fairly considerate?

“Let me out.”

“No.”

“Jack, quit it.” Mark crossed his arms again, nervously shifting from foot to foot. “Enough is enough. Stop acting like a twelve-year-old.”

Somewhere in the back of Jack’s mind, he knew he was acting like a twelve-year-old. And a complete and utter jerk who was just ruining everything, but he was still angry enough to not yet realize that. And dig himself more into a hole. He glared at Mark.

“Pets don’t speak.”

Mark’s jaw dropped to the ground, not believing what was happening. How had it all gone so wrong? Rather than respond vocally, Mark gave Jack an inappropriate hand gesture.

Jack gave Mark a flat look and flicked the glass in turn. “No, bad Mark.” He said. He was really playing along with this whole pet thing.

Mark’s eyes widened as he pressed his hands to either side of the glass, trying to keep his balance as a loud ringing within the glass pummeled his ears. Once steady, Mark pushed his hands to his ears to try and muffle the sound. He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling defeated. He sank to the bottom of the glass, tucking his knees to his chest as the ringing continued as a reminder of all that had gone awry.

What had Mark been thinking? Jack was right. There was nothing he could do to stop him.

Jack’s glare slowly softened as he watched Mark sink to the bottom of the glass. He had been expecting more snark, not...this. Jack’s eyes widened when the past several minutes replayed in his mind.

Oh.

Oh no.

What had he done.

Jack backed away and before he knew it he was running back to his room. The door closed behind him and he fell into bed, face first. Mark was never going to trust him now. He ruined everything.

His chest hurt.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being so late! Feel free to shame us in the comments below. 
> 
> Also! We recently did an art trade with ashifitngworkshop over on Tumblr and the picture turned out wonderful! Here's a link! https://ashiftingworkshop.tumblr.com/post/162087459206/so-arc852-and-hiddendreamer67-asked-if-id-be?is_highlighted_post=1


	18. Sorry for Scaring you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone apologizes and we pretend things will be fine.

Mark had never felt so cramped in his life. The circumference of the glass kept Mark from ever truly extending his limbs. His fists were raw from pounding at the walls, trying to tip the stupid cup over. It was no use. How pathetic was that? Mark was truly defeated by a water glass.

Mark groaned, clutching his stomach as it once again made the same whines it had been making for hours. He hadn’t eaten since that morning, and the prospects of getting more food soon were rather slim. 

Mark sighed, letting his head fall against the transparent walls. Mark knew he was a fool for trusting Jack after only a few days of knowing the doof. He should have followed his training, treating all local inhabitants as a potential hostile- especially on a planet as dangerous as Bossatron.

Mark’s thoughts drifted to his team, now taken probably thousands of miles away. There was no way a midget who couldn’t escape a jar could ever save his friends on his own. What was going to happen to the team?

 

 

Jack lay in bed, wide awake and regretting all of his decisions. He wasn’t sure what had gotten into him, why he had acted like that. But it was too late to take it back. Now, he was alone, hungry and Mark probably hated him. He left him in a freaking cup for pete's sake!

 

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. He stared out into his dark room, the lack of Sam’s whirring making for a deafening silence. He had to do something, he couldn’t stay in his room forever. Sooner or later he had to face Mark again and something told him it would be better if he did it sooner.

 

He kicked his legs over the bed and stood, heading for the door. Maybe he could offer some food as a peace offering. He was sure Mark was just as hungry as he was. As silently as he could, he opened the door and made his way to the kitchen. The only light was from the moon, shining in through the window. He saw Mark, right where he had left him.

 

Biting his lip he made his way over and very carefully tilted the glass so Mark could crawl out on his own. With that done, he went to the fridge and grabbed a few eggs, deciding that would have to do for now. He started cooking them up, still silent and not looking over at Mark.

 

As soon as they were done, he divided it onto two plates and set one down on the table next to Mark. He then took a silent seat at the table and looked down at his folded hands. Trying to figure out the words he was going to say.

 

 

Mark knew that he should bolt the second he was free, but he was too tired to run. Instead, he just crawled out, waiting for how Jack was going to treat his ‘pet’. Mark traced his fingers along his bruised arms as he watched Jack cook, mouth watering at the scent of real food. Mark followed the plates of eggs as they came closer, one being placed right in front of him.

 

Mark’s pride wanted him to refuse to eat Jack’s food, but his hunger won out. Using his hands and knife, Mark began to scarf down some food, never once looking at Jack.

 

 

Jack stayed silent for a few more moments just watching Mark eat. He didn’t even dare touch his own portion yet. Not until he was done saying what he had to say. He took a deep breath.

 

“There’s nothing I can say to make this better.” Well, that was as great of a line as any to start this off.

 

“Heck, I can’t even say that I didn’t mean any of what I said. I do care about you and that was why I was angry, yeah I was a bit upset with them spying on me, but most of the anger was for you and your team.” He took another deep breath, the next part was harder to say.

 

“I just want you to know that I never thought about treating you any less than a person. But I can’t lie about how I’ve thought about how easy it would be. For someone to take advantage of you.” Jack shook his head.

 

“I’m not even going to try and explain myself. I messed up.”Jack gave a shaky sigh, but managed a small, self-loathing smile.  

 

“Told you you couldn’t be worse than me in my position.” Jack gave a small chuckle that was quickly cut off when Jack realized how shaky it was. He wasn’t going to cry. He’s cried enough already.

  

Mark finally risked a glance up at Jack’s face. Mark looked back down at his plate, not able to handle the sight of Jack so close to tears. If Jack started crying, Mark would be too big of a sap to stay mad at him, and then Mark would never be able to say his part.

“Jack, I’ve thought about how easy it would be for you to take advantage of me every second I’ve spent on this planet.” Mark said, pushing his egg around. “The thing is, you actually did it.” Mark sent a glance back at the glass behind him, shuddering. 

 

 

Jack winced and looked away. “I know.” He sighed and wiped at his eyes. Jack didn’t know what else to say.  _ Sorry _ , was on the tip of his tongue, but he had said that enough already over these past few days. He was sure Mark didn’t want to hear that.

 

“I can’t take that back, no matter how much I wish I could.” Jack stared down at the plate of eggs in front of him and pushed them to the side.

 

 

“Well, I wish you could take it back too.” Mark sighed. He took another slow bite of eggs, taking his time. 

 

 

Jack muttered a “yeah” but didn’t say anything more. His eggs were probably cold at this point, but he still didn’t make a move for them. 

 

 

“I want you to know I don’t blame you.” Mark spoke up, putting down his knife. “I shouldn’t have said that you don’t care. I provoked you by accusing you of being this awful person when really you’ve been trying even harder than me to make this work. I would not be alive if it weren’t for you.” 

 

Mark took a deep breath, nervous to make Jack angry again. “It’s just that, in the heat of our anger, you changed. You showed me a new side of you that doesn’t care about being gentle or caring, and it scared me. I just...well, I know I need your help and I hope you’re not going to leave me now.”

 

 

Jack finally looked up at Mark, blinking in shock at his words. Jack’s eyes softened.

 

“Of course I’m not gonna leave ya. Despite all this, I still consider you my friend. Even if you don’t consider me yours. I want to make this up to you, by helping you find your team.” He paused. “Not that I wasn’t gonna help you before, but I’m gonna work extra hard to make sure we get them back safely.” He gave Mark his best comforting smile.

 

“I’ll, um, also try to keep my anger in check. I’m not usually angry at all, but, well…” He shook his head. “Yeah, I’m gonna try my hardest.”

  

“That’s probably for the best.” Mark agreed. “And I’ll try not to push your buttons, regardless of how tempting it gets.” 

 

 

Jack couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah. But, tell me if I’m doing anything wrong. Maybe not how you did before, but I don’t want you to be afraid to tell me things.”

 

 

Mark almost laughed in disbelief. How was he supposed to tell Jack things when from now on he would always live in fear of accidentally angering his ticking time bomb of a friend? There was no way Mark could forget Jack’s face, not caring for Mark’s well-being as he was clutched in an unyielding fist…

“Sure thing, Jack.” Mark said, grinning.

 

 

Jack smiled back, happy now that they seemed to be at least somewhat fixed. Not that their relationship was very stable in the first place, but it was slowly getting better. Jack looked again at his eggs and took a few bites. It was definitely cold. He shrugged, he would just wait for breakfast. He let out a yawn.

 

“Maybe we should head to bed? It’s the middle of the night and we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, looking for your friends and all.” Jack asked, covering his mouth as another yawn overtook him.

 

 

“Sounds good.” Mark agreed, covering his own mouth as he began to yawn as well. Yawns were always so contagious. 

 

Jack stood and then hesitated. Knowing there was only really one option in order to get to his room. Especially since Mark didn’t have his grappling hook on him. Jack rubbed his hands, wincing a bit at the jolt of pain he felt from the burns he still hadn’t tended to. He laid his unburned hand flat, palm up on the table.

 

“Do you...want a ride?” Jack asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

 

_ No. No No No I do not want a ride from someone who a few hours ago could easily have killed me with no remorse and- _

 

“Yeah, that’s probably best.” Mark answered, ignoring the screaming ‘No’s in his head. Mark forced himself to walk onto Jack’s palm, but he felt twitchy. Mark expected the fingers to close around him at any moment, having all been some elaborate prank or ruse to gain back Mark’s trust. 

 

Jack didn’t know why, but it felt different somehow. Having Mark in his hand. He couldn’t place how, but whatever it was it made him want to be even more careful. Maybe it had something to do with earlier? Jack shook his head, he did not want to think about that any time soon.

 

He walked to his room, making sure Mark didn’t feel like he was trapped by keeping his fingers away from him. When in his room, he set Mark down on the nightstand. It was then that he remembered that Mark’s ship was gone.

 

“Oh right, your ship.” Jack bit his lip before remembering all the stuff they bought that day. He ran out of the room.

 

“Be right back!” He yelled to Mark behind him.

 

“Yep.” Mark sighed to himself, sitting cross-legged on the nightstand as he watched Jack disappear. “I’ll be here.” It wasn’t like he had a choice.

 

 

Jack came back into the room, holding a the tiny space themed bed from earlier that day. He was glad they ended up buying this stuff, Mark needed it now more than before with his ship gone and all. He set it down on the nightstand.

 

“There we go, all set. Oh wait,” he dug a hand in his pocket and brought out tiny pieces of cloth. He set them down on the tiny bed.

 

“There, I thought you might want to change, so I brought you some pajamas as well.” 

 

 

Mark began to take off his uniform, peeling it off his chest until he realized Jack was still just standing there. Mark raised an eyebrow, meeting his gaze.

“Do you mind?” Mark said, pausing.

 

Jack blushed and turned around quickly. “Ah, sorry!” What was he thinking, it wasn’t like Mark could go in his ship anymore and change.

 

 

Mark chuckled, changing into the new pajamas. They were a bit baggy, but certainly more comfortable than expected. 

 

“Alright, you can look now you pervert.” Mark joked.

 

 

“I am  _ not  _ a pervert, thank ya very much. If anything, you were the one who started stripping while I was still looking.” Jack turned around and looked at Mark’s new clothes. Jack smiled.

 

“Hey! They fit you better than I thought they would.” Jack commented as he took a seat on his bed.

 

“Yeah, they’re working better than I expected, too.” Mark said, slipping under the covers of the tiny space bed. He gave another little yawn. “G’night, Jack.”

 

Jack watched Mark get under the covers and then did the same. He sighed, hoping things would go smoother tomorrow. “Night Mark.” He closed his eyes, drifting off into a dreamless sleep.


	19. Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack struggles to comfort Mark and the team gets handed over to Mason's secretary.

_ “Mark!” Jack’s excited whispers penetrated Mark’s subconscious. Mark groaned, pushing off the space covers as he got up at Jack. _

_ “What is so important, Jack?” Mark asked, stretching. “You know I need my beauty sleep!” _

_ “I think I found one of your team members!” Jack said. Mark paused mid-stretch. _

_ “Wait, what?” Mark frowned. “Jack, that’s not funny.”  _

_ “No, I’m serious.” Jack explained. “I was re-watching the footage and realized there was a chance one of them got away in all the chaos. Sure enough, I found him hiding behind the nightstand. He won’t talk to me though, so I need you to come tell him he’s safe.”  _

_ “Uh, okay!” Mark had never hopped on Jack’s palm so fast in his life. Was it true? Was someone on his team in this very room all this time? _

_ Jack chuckled at Mark’s eagerness, but he was careful to go slowly when setting Mark down on the ground.  _

_ “Ethan?!” Mark gasped, seeing a spot of blue hair hidden in the shadows. “Oh god, is it really you?” The blue haired boy staggered out into the light, looking worse for wear but otherwise in good shape. _

_ “Yep, it’s me.” Ethan grinned, hugging Mark back as the doof rushed to greet him. _

_ “But- how did…” Mark was interrupted as Ethan put a finger to his lips. _

_ “Tyler told me to run, so I did.” Ethan explained. “I kept quiet, because I thought you were being held captive like everyone else.” Mark thought back to the water glass incident last night, and thought maybe Ethan was correct.  _

_ “Ethan, don’t worry.” Mark smiled at his friend. “We’ll go rescue the others.” Ethan’s grin faltered. _

_ “I’m not sure about that.” Ethan muttered. “Before we go, I have to tell you something.” Ethan gripped Mark’s wrists with a sense of urgency. _

_ “What is it?” Mark asked, leaning in. _

_ “This is all your fault.” With these last words, Ethan let out an inhuman screech. His hands became unbearably hot, and Mark tried unsuccessfully to pull away from their burning grip.  _

_ “E-Ethan, I’m sorry!” Mark stammered, watching as the room began to crumble all around him and suddenly he was looking down at Ethan’s corpse, surrounded by his other friends. _

_ “This is your fault!” Tyler screamed, coming up and jabbing a finger into Mark’s chest. “If you hadn’t led us here, Ethan wouldn’t have died.” _

_ “I never meant for any of this to happen!” Mark pleaded. “Guys, you have to believe me.” _

_ “You led us straight into a trap.” Katherine said, looking at him with disappointed eyes. A large shadow was cast on the group as a menacing pair of hands reached down. _

_ “Look out!” Mark shouted, but it was as if they couldn’t hear him. One by one his teammates were grabbed, screaming as they disappeared high above his head. _

_ “SAVE US!” Amy yelled out, reaching a hand down towards Mark. _

_ “Amy, I’m coming!” Mark yelled, running forwards desperately to try and help. _

 

_ \----------------- _

 

Jack let out a muffled groan as he started to wake. His eyes slowly opened and he stared at the ceiling in confusion. Why was he awake? His question was answered when he heard a string of whimpers coming from the nightstand. Sitting up in bed, he looked towards it, only to see Mark thrashing in bed. He had thrown his blanket off the bed and was whimpering loudly.

Jack furrowed his eyebrows in concern, knowing Mark must be having a bad dream. Not wanting Mark to hurt himself and hating seeing him in torment, Jack reached out a hand and started wrapping it around him. Slowly and carefully.

 

\------------------------- 

 

_ “You’re not going anywhere.” A twisted, familiar voice boomed overhead, and suddenly Mark found himself wrapped in a tight grip and rising fast. _

_ “Jack?!” Mark looked up at his captor in shock and horror. He began to thrash violently, trying to escape. “Jack, let me go! My team needs me!” _

_ “You can’t even help yourself.” Jack scoffed. ‘How do you expect to help them?” _

_ “Jack!” Mark screeched, banging his fists against Jack’s tough skin. “LET. ME. GO.” Jack only scoffed, flicking Mark’s head and making Mark see spots for a few moments. Mark found himself roughly tossed into a cage, and by the time he scrambled to his feet Jack had already locked it.  _

_ “Now, be a good boy: stay here.” Jack was already walking away.  _

_ “Jack, I can’t stay here!” Mark began to pound on the bars. “I have to rescue my team. I have to go home.” _

_ “Pets don’t speak.” Jack replied mockingly. _

 

_ \---------------------------- _

 

Jack’s hand shot away when Mark at literally yelled at him to let him go. It was clear he was still in the nightmare, but it made Jack wonder what, exactly, it was about. Jack had a feeling he knew. And if he was right, then picking Mark up was probably the wrong thing to do.

But still, Jack couldn’t just sit back and watch, or worse, completely ignore Mark while he was still being tormented. So, Jack brought his hand back over to Mark, this time managing to scoop up the squirming man. He held him at chest level, looking at him with concern.

“Mark. Mark, please, it’s okay. Wake up. It’s just a dream.” He rubbed Mark’s side as best as he could with him still flailing.

 

_ Mark fell to the cage floor, sobbing into his hands. He was such a failure. Everyone he loved was doomed because of him.  _

Mark felt giant hands close around him once more, and immediately he began to squirm in their unyielding grasp, except this time they had an unexpectedly gentle touch. It felt more familiar to Jack’s hands before everything had gone to hell and back. Mark shuddered, allowing himself to calm down. Slowly his mind began to rejoin the waking world at the sound of the real Jack’s voice. 

Mark opened his eyes, looking around to see that he was being held by Jack lying in bed. Mark sniffled, wiping at his nose with his pajama sleeve. 

“Sorry.” Mark said, hugging his knees tight as a few more tears leaked out of his eyes. “Did I wake you?”

 

“Kind of, but it’s fine,” he said and they sat in silence for a few moments. Jack bit his lip. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asked, referring, of course, to Mark’s nightmare.

 

“I had a nightmare about my team.” Mark admitted. He picked at a loose thread of his pants. “I watched Ethan die, and everyone was blaming me for it and then I watched as they were captured. They were screaming at me to help, but...I couldn’t do anything.” Mark shuddered, remembering the next part. “And then I was captured too, trapped and unable to help my friends.” He decided to play it safe and not mention the fact that Jack  _ was  _ his captor.

Jack frowned, he should have figured Mark would have nightmares about what happened. His friends were captured, after all. Not to mention one of them had been hurt in the process. It seemed Mark’s mind had already claimed  _ that _ friend as dead. Something Jack hoped wasn’t true.

“We’ll get them back.” Jack said, not knowing what else to say. “Tomorrow, we’ll find out where they went and go get them.” He said this more determined. Hoping his confidence would rub off on Mark.

“Sure, Jack.” Mark gave a tired chuckle, glad one of them was still optimistic. He leaned back into Jack’s touch, finding the warmth comforting despite his dream. Mark wasn’t sure he was ever going to sleep again after that nightmare, but his total exhaustion won out and in a few minutes Mark was out like a light.

 

Jack was shocked when he noticed Mark had just fallen asleep. On his hand of all things. He gave a soft smile and rubbed his side a few more times before moving his hand toward the nightstand. He paused though and looked down at Mark. Moving him too much could wake him up and he needed sleep right now. Making up his mind, Jack laid back down and carefully placed Mark on his chest. He rested a hand on top of him, sort of like a blanket. With Mark okay and sound asleep, Jack soon followed.

 

**\-----------------------**

 

 

“Sir, I think you’ll be happy to note that I’ve returned with four specimens, rather than just the tiny man.” Jason happily said, nearly slamming the cage down on his boss’ desk and earning a chorus of yelling from inside the character. “My men also discovered two of the devices and are delivering them down to robotics as we speak.”

Mason grinned as he bent down, looking inside the carrier. The tiny aliens backing away in fear. He also noted the fact that three of them seemed to be protecting the one with blue hair. He hummed in contentment.

“They’re perfect.” He tapped the side of the glass, the others putting their hands over their ears as he did so. His smile grew wider and he stood up straight. 

“Right, Jason, bring in my secretary please.”

“Yes sir.” Jason bowed, before opening the door. “HEY SIGNE, GET IN HERE!” There was a sound of pounding footsteps before a girl appeared in the doorway, hair frazzled and looking out of breath.

“You called for me, sir?” Signe asked, stepping forward.

 

“Yes, I have a task for you. I want you to bring this carrier and the things inside down to the lab. You’ll be in charge of looking after them and making sure they don’t escape. Also, inform the lead engineer while you’re down there about them and the ships.” Mason ordered, hands behind his back.

“Alright, but are you sure I’m the most qualified?” Signe said, peering into the container to see what appeared to be tiny people. She gasped. “What are these things, anyways?”

Mason chuckled. “We have reason to believe they are from space. Which is why we need their ships reverse-engineered. If we can find a way back to their planet....” he trailed off, caught up in his own thoughts. He shook his head.

“Anyway, I don’t pay you to ask questions. It is a fairly simple task. You’ll be fine.” He glanced again down at the cage, locking eyes with the blue one. He hummed.

“You might want to check up on the blue one. Can’t have one of them dying on us. Not yet anyway.” He muttered the last part.

Signe carefully picked up the container and left, muttering something about not being a vet and a few mocking lines directed at her boss.


	20. We're going on a trip!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys eat breakfast, Mark messes with a hoverboard and Jack has a plan.

Mark awoke to find himself covered in smothering warmth. He was a bit confused until his brain began to comprehend that the ‘warmth’ was Jack’s hand. Yet the light coming from the window clearly indicated it was morning. Did Jack really spend the entire night cuddling him like a teddy bear? The thought made Mark uneasy.

Mark squirmed his way out of Jack’s grip, trying not to wake the sleeping giant. He carefully gripped the edges of the blanket and used it to slide down to the ground. Thankfully the comforter came down to a few feet above the ground. 

 

Jack shifted slightly and groaned. He stretched, his arms going up in the air. His hands settled back down on his chest and it took a moment for his groggy mind to realize something was missing. He froze and looked down at his chest, when he didn’t see Mark he started looking all over the bed. Growing more and more panicked.  _ Oh gosh, what if I moved and knocked him off!? _

 

“Mark!” Jack yelled into his silent room, hoping for an answer.

 

 

Mark heard Jack’s panicked screams. Whelp, sounded like Jack was awake now, too. The peace and quiet was nice while it lasted.

“I’m down here!” Mark yelled back up, rolling his eyes. He retreated under the bed, not wanting to be out in the open when Jack was once again panicking over him being on the floor.

 

Jack calmed down a considerable amount when he heard Mark’s voice coming from the floor. He didn’t sound hurt, which meant he probably climbed down there himself. Still in bed, he scanned the floor. When he didn’t see Mark, he realized he must have went under the bed.

 

Smiling a bit, Jack, instead of getting out of bed, hung himself off his bed so he was looking underneath, upside down. He spotted Mark figure and gave a small wave.

 

“Morning. Did ya sleep okay?” He, of course, was referring more to Mark’s sleep after the nightmare thing had happened.

 

 

“I slept like a baby.” Mark replied, a bit startled when Jack poked his head under the bed. How did Jack always manage to surprise him? “What about you?”

 

 

“Pretty good actually.” Jack laughed as well. He probably looked weird from this angle, especially since his face was probably turning red. “Hungry?”

 

 

“Yep.” Mark joked. “Hurry up and feed me.”  _ Like a little puppy.  _ Mark cringed at his own inner thought, remembering his nightmare.

 

“Alright, alright.” Jack laughed, unaware of the thoughts in Mark’s head. He got up and out of bed before kneeling down and holding out his hand. Waiting for Mark to climb on.

 

 

Mark climbed on Jack’s hand, trying to get his mind back in the right place after last night. It still felt weird, being in Jack’s hand after everything that had happened. Mark no longer felt welcome in his warm grip, instead fearing a repeat of Jack’s outbursts. The nightmares hadn’t helped.

 

Jack smiled and carried Mark into the kitchen, he glanced at the limp form of Sam before turning away. He let Mark off at the table and looked in the fridge and cupboards for anything to eat. He hummed when he was met by a very scarce assortment of food. 

 

“Okay, um...we have strawberries?” Those were probably still good. He continued looking. “And we still have a bit of cereal left.” He said as he shook the box. He glanced at Mark, waiting to see what he wanted.

 

 

“Let’s make it a real feast and do both.” Mark smiled. “We’re really living wild!” 

 

Jack laughed. “That’s just how I roll,” He smiled and grabbed the strawberries, along with a few platters and bowls. He placed some cereal in a bowl for himself and put the strawberries, along with a few pieces of cereal for Mark, on the platter. He brought it over and sat down.

 

“Here we are! A feast fit for a giant.” He winked and took a bite of his cereal.

 

“Yeah, a giant goof and his tiny roommate.” Mark snorted, cutting off a bit of strawberry for himself. The juice ran down his front, making a mess of his new pajamas. Shrugging, mark took a bite. Nothing to do about that now.

 

Jack chuckled. “You have something right…” He trailed off and motioned toward all of him. He grabbed a napkin and gave it to him. It wouldn’t do much for his clothes but at least his face and hands would be clean.

 

“Thanks.” Mark said, taking the napkin and trying to dab off the puddles of juice. “Make that one  _ messy  _ tiny roommate.”

 

 

“Yeah, but hey, we’ll be able to try out the new washer and dryer.” He reached over near Mark and grabbed one of the strawberries off the platter, taking a bite. Some juice dribbled on him as well and he grabbed a napkin, laughing.

 

“Man, these things  _ are _ juicy.” He took another bite, finishing it off.

 

“Oh yeah!” Mark thought back to all the purchases, and suddenly he was itching to get his hands on that hoverboard. Maybe if he had something like that to help him get around, he wouldn’t be as dependent on Jack and could actually do something to help rescue his friends. “Could we, maybe, go through the things we got after breakfast? We kinda got...distracted.”

 

“Oh yeah! Actually, they should be out here.” He pulled a bag out from under the table and set it on his lap. “Here we go!” He dug through it’s contents and grabbed the hoverboard, knowing that was what Mark really wanted to see.

 

“Hoverboard, at your service.” He joked and placed it on the table.

 

 

“Oh, thanks.” Mark said, wiping his hands off on the napkin. He turned over the board and pried the back panel open with the help of his knife. Mark looked around at the alien tech and realized this might take a while. 

 

As Mark looked at the hoverboard, Jack took out another outfit for Mark to change into and set the rest of the stuff aside for a later time. As he watched Mark mess around with the inside, his eyes glanced over to the living room. 

 

His thoughts wandered over to Sam and Mark’s team being captured and he was suddenly struck with an idea. He stood up and ran into the living room. 

 

“I’ll be right back!” He called out behind him.

 

“Wha- where are you going?” Mark called out, watching Jack leave him alone on the table. Again. Mark had a flashback to the last night when he was left alone on the table, embarrassingly trapped in a tall water glass...Mark sighed, focusing back on his work. 

 

Jack ran over to Sam and opened up his computer again. He looked through all the files stored on Sam’s hard drive, biting his lip. He hovered over one particular file and opened it. Number danced across the screen and Jack quickly switched over to the web, typing the numbers in. 

 

He grinned as the map came up and waited as it began to print out. Once it was done, Jack grabbed the paper and ran into the kitchen waving it around.

 

“I found it!”

 

 

“I still don’t know what you were looking for, Jack.” Mark called back, smiling in relief when he finished calibrating the board. He shoved the back panel back into place, now eager to take another test drive. 

Jack put the paper down on the table so Mark could look at it. “I went through Sam and found where your team was taken!” Jack said excitedly. 

 

“Wait, seriously?” Mark looked down at the paper before him, walking back and forth on the map to try and get a layout of the land. A spot on it was clearly highlighted. “How?”

 

“Sam had a file on its hardrive about the location it streamed to. And judging by how big and out in the middle of nowhere it is, I would say this is where your team is at.” Jack said smiling. With this information they were a few steps closer to finding Mark’s team.

 

“Is it far?” Mark asked, trying to get a scale of the map without knowing any landmarks.

 

“Uh…” Jack took another look at the map. “It’s about a two hour drive from here to right here.” Jack placed a finger a few inches away from the building.

 

“We would then have to walk to the rest of the way, which looks like that will take another hour or so.” Jack estimated. It wasn’t far by any means, though Jack knew Mark would not love the two hour drive part.

 

“Alright.” Mark said, processing the new information. “That’s not...too bad. When can we get going?”

 

Jack hummed and checked the clock. “If you’re ready, we can head out right now. I just need to call the cab first.”

 

“Yeah, just give me a second to do a test run.” Mark climbed onto the board, stomping twice to turn it on. The board began to give a pleasant hum, hovering a few feet off the table.

 

 Jack’s eyes widened. “Whoa! Wait!” He placed a hand in front of Mark so he couldn’t go anywhere. “Maybe you should do this on the floor?”

 

“Oh, right.” Mark remembered how far he had propelled forwards the first time, not wanting to propel straight off the table. “Mind giving me a lift?”

 

 

Jack smiled and scooped Mark and the hoverboard up and deposited them on the floor. “I’m gonna go call the cab now.” He left the room as he dialed, leaving Mark alone for a bit.

 

“Alright!” Mark called back to him. He leaned forwards, almost falling off the board once again. After a few minutes, Mark seemed to get the hang of it. Mark began zooming all around the house, right past Jack standing in the living room on the phone. Mark laughed, doing a few doughnuts around the giant’s legs before continuing to zip all around the house. He felt as fast as Jack! 

 

Mark slowed to a stop in the kitchen, noticing something strange. The package Jack had picked up earlier was abandoned on the floor, with a large burn in the side of it. Sam’s laser must have hit it by mistake. Mark, feeling a bit curious, moved closer to peer through the hole at the contents.

 

Mark wished he hadn’t. 

 

Inside the dark interior, Mark could make out what looked like several traps for catching small creatures. In the back of the box, Mark thought he saw what looked to be a cage. What did Jack do for a living, exactly?

 

Hearing footsteps coming closer, Mark quickly zipped away to greet Jack at the doorway and pretend he hadn’t been snooping.

 

 

“Alright, let’s get your friends back!” Jack yelled as he stepped back into the room. He saw Mark nearby and kneeled down, offering him a hand.

 

“Yep.” Mark agreed, stepping on. He didn’t mention the contents of the box.

 

Mark couldn’t believe this was really happening. It felt strange going in without a true plan, but what other choice did they have? His friends could be being tortured or even killed every minute they hesitated.

 

Jack brought Mark to chest level and looked at the hoverboard Mark had under his arm. “Do you want to hold on to that while in my pocket or do you want me to put it somewhere else for ya?” He just wanted to make sure Mark wouldn’t be too cramped in his pocket.

 

“Well, if you’ve got a spot for it.” Mark held it up towards Jack, just hoping it wouldn’t get squashed. Those adjustments to the hoverboard hadn’t been easy and Mark didn’t want to have to repair it again.

 

Jack took it between two finger and smiled. “I’ll put it in the front pocket of my pack, should be safe there.” He did just that and then let Mark tumble into his chest pocket. With all that done, he grabbed the map from the table and headed outside and toward the road where they were to meet the taxi.

 


	21. Checking In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Signe and Robin check up on the team and Ethan finally gets some help.

“Hey Robin.” Signe greeted the head engineer, walking into the lab with the container full of tiny people in hand. “Mr. Mason said he sent down some mini ships for you to take a look at right away.”

Robin looked up from a paper on his desk and smiled at Signe. “Hey. Is that what those things are?” He pointed over to the table where both ships were laid out. They were both beaten up pretty badly, so much so he had a hard time telling what they were.

“They were sent down a few minutes ago.” He took notice of what Signe was holding and his eyes widened. “Uh...What’s that?”

“These are what came in the ship.” Signe placed the container on the table next to Robin, undoing the locks on the top. She opened the lid, revealing the team to Robin.

Robin blinked and looked into the container, mouth open wide in surprise when he saw the tiny people within.

“What the heck?” The tiny people looked up at him in fear, hugging the side of the carrier. “This is impossible…” He looked over to Signe.

“What do you mean these guys came in the ship?” He asked.

“I don’t know, you’re the engineer.” Signe shrugged. “You tell me. Mr. Mason wants you to reverse-engineer these ships so we can see how they tick.”

Robin hummed and glanced at the ships before his eyes focused back on the tiny people. It was then that he took notice of one of them in particular. He had blue hair and was sat up against the wall, hand on his side. The other tiny people seemed to have created a barrier around him, as if they were trying to protect him.

“Hey Signe, I think that one might be hurt.” He said and pointed to the blue one.

“Hmm?” Signe looked down, only press her hand to her forehead as she face-palmed. “Oh, shoot! Mr. Mason wanted me to check up on that one, saying he did look injured.” Signe sighed, looking down into the box at the blue-haired boy. Carefully she began to reach a hand in to pick him up.

The others gathered around Ethan protectively, looking to Tyler for instructions. They didn’t want these unknown aliens to hurt Ethan any more. Tyler took a step forward, trying not to shake as he attempted to look the giant in the eye as the hand came ever closer.

“Please don’t touch Ethan!” Tyler spoke in a loud voice, thankful that his nerves didn’t make his voice shake. Signe froze immediately at his words, hand suspended in midair.

Through his pain, Ethan’s eyes widened. With his voice barely a whisper, he spoke. “Tyler, what are you doing?” He tried moving, but only managed to make himself hurt more.

Robin’s eyes widened at the sound of the small voice. “Th-they can talk?” His surprise was focused on Signe, wondering if she had known about this.

“Uh…” Signe just looked at Robin, at a loss for words. 

“Trust me Ethan, I know what I’m doing.” Tyler whispered to his team. Tyler gulped, hoping he did know what he was doing. He turned back to the female giant, projecting his voice. “Yes, we can talk. We’re the members of Team Markiplier from planet Earth, and we would greatly appreciate if you gave us supplies so that we could fix up our friend for ourselves. For you see, without meaning any offense, our smaller hands will be able to treat his wounds in a much more efficient manner.” 

Robin blinked, trying to take everything the tiny man said in. “Right, uh Signe?” He turned to his friend. “I think the medical kit is by the desk over there, mind grabbing it?” He pointed towards the wall on the other side of the room and then turned back to the tiny people.

“What?” Signe looked at him, only now snapping out of her trance. “Oh. Oh! Yeah, sure.” Signe hurried over to grab thekit, returning to the table.

“Okay, um, what do you...what do you need, little guy?” Signe asked, still surprised this all wasn’t some strange dream.

Tyler turned back to Amy, their go-to medic in emergencies. “What do you need, Amy?” He asked quietly, surprised the giants were being so cooperative.

Amy took her eyes away from the giants looming overhead and kneeled down next to Ethan. She looked him over real quick before turning to Tyler. “I’m gonna need some gauze, definitely. Some fabric for a sling and some pain meds.” She told Tyler, hoping the giants would give it to them.

“We’ll need gauze, some fabric, and some pain meds if you can spare them for our friend.” Tyler spoke up to Signe, who nodded.

“You’ve got it.” She took out the gauze and pain meds, cutting off a smaller bit of gauze. She then handed this and a few pills to Tyler very carefully, holding them on the edge of an open palm. Tyler quickly took them and gave them to Amy. 

“And, uh…” Signe looked around before deciding to tear a bit off of the bottom of her lab coat. “Here’s some fabric, too.” 

“Thank you very much.” Tyler gave her a polite bow, taking the fabric and watching Amy get to work.

“Okay Ethan, I need you to take off your shirt. Just be careful of your arm, I’m pretty sure it’s fractured.” Ethan nodded and managed to do so, only suffering a little bit. Amy winced when she saw the dark purple bruises all over his torso. She bit her lip and grabbed the fabric, wanting to take care of his arm first. As she did her best to move Ethan’s arm in the sling, she glanced up at Tyler.

“Tyler, what are we gonna do?” She whispered. Ethan groaned in pain when she moved his arm a little too much. She winced and apologized, moving slower. “With Ethan like this and all these giants around, I’m not sure how we’re gonna get out of here.”

“We’ve just got to survive and find Mark.” Tyler whispered back, hoping the giants couldn’t hear them. “We’ll wait until we have him before we make an escape plan, but obviously our ship is no condition to leave. I’m thinking, maybe if we can befriend the engineer, we can use his skills and materials to get our ride home.”

“Uh-huh, except he’s supposed to be taking apart our ship.” Katherine whispered. “How’re you going to get him to do the opposite?”

“With time and patience and manners.” Tyler answered. “So everyone, be on your best behavior.”

 

Ethan winced when Amy moved his arm again, but managed a small chuckle at Tyler’s words. “Yeah, we’re dead.”

“Oooookay.” Signe said, realizing the tiny people were talking amongst themselves. “I’m just going to leave you guys alone, then. Uh, good luck with your arm little dude.” She slowly and carefully closed the box, locking it back up. She looked to Robin in alarm.

“What are we gonna do?” She whispered.


	22. Walking in the woods

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack and Mark have a nice chat in the woods as they walk towards the villains who kidnapped the team.

 

Mark sighed, leaning his head back in the soft hammock that was the bottom of Jack’s chest pocket. It felt like he had been sitting in here for ages, not even able to talk to Jack because of the Taxi driver. His muscles were sore and his joints felt stiff, but there was no room to really stretch in the pocket. This had to count as a form of torture. Bored out of his mind, Mark began to tap the beats of popular songs against Jack’s chest.

 

Jack felt the tiny taps against his chest and looked down in surprise. He didn’t exactly recognize the tune, but some did sound familiar. He chuckled a bit, knowing it would shake the pocket. 

 

The car came to a sudden stop and Jack blinked, looking out the window. Jack thanked the driver and paid him, getting out of the car. He ignored the confused look the driver was giving him and watched until the car was out of sight. He sighed.

 

“Man, that was a long trip.” He poked the tiny bump in his pocket. “How are you doing Mark?”

 

 

“I’ve been crouched down and hiding in another man’s pocket for several hours, how do you think i’m doing?” Mark replied, moving around freely now that there was no fear of being seen by the driver. 

 

 

“Sorry.” Jack said sheepishly. He reached in his pocket, scooping Mark out. “Well, we don’t have to worry about anyone for a while. Want to hang out on my shoulder?” Jack suggested, motioning to his shoulder with his head.

 

 

“That sounds great.” Mark said, relieved to be out in the open. The pocket had begun to feel a bit stuffy. He could use the fresh air.

 

 

Jack smiled and let Mark climb onto his right shoulder. It felt weird and it took a lot for Jack to not flinch. Once Mark was settled, Jack started walking through the forest, towards the direction the map wanted him to go. It was silent for a few minutes, before Jack decided to ask Mark about something that had been on his mind for a while.

 

“Hey, Mark? What is your team like, exactly?” Jack asked, hoping the question wasn’t too personal.

 

 

“Well…” Mark looked around at the scenery, taking time to think. He made sure to keep a firm grip on Jack’s shirt collar as he didn’t want to fall. Mark leaned closer to Jack’s neck for balance. “There’s Tyler, who’s my second in command. I can trust him with anything. There’s Amy, who is my fellow pilot and also my girlfriend. Katherine manages the technicalities and is the probably the smartest of us all. Then there’s Ethan, our blue haired goof. He was promoted to our team early because of his excellent navigational skills. He’s talented but he’s still so young.” Mark frowned. “I worry about him sometimes.”

 

 

Jack listened with rapt attention as Mark listed out his friends, smiling at the fondness in his voice as he named each one. “Wait. You have a girlfriend? How did that happen.” He joked, trying to keep his shoulders from shaking from his chuckles. 

 

 

“Oh, haha.” Mark rolled his eyes. “Just because you’ll never get a girlfriend doesn’t mean the rest of us have to stay single.”

 

 

“Hey! I can get a girlfriend whenever I want! I’m just waiting for the one.” He huffed and let out a few more chuckles. Jack frowned when he thought back to one of the friends Mark mentioned and wondered if he should mention it. He decided to take the chance.

 

“Is Ethan the one who got hurt?” He asked softly, knowing this was a hard subject. 

 

Mark let out a slow sigh. “Yeah.” He confirmed, listening to Jack’s heartbeat in the veins behind him. It seemed even louder up here than in the pocket. “I just hope he’s alright. If something happened to him… I just don’t think I could forgive myself.”

 

 

Jack hummed, not knowing what to say. He decided on changing the subject, worrying wouldn’t get them anywhere. “So, when you decided to go to space, did you ever think you would get into this kind of situation?” Jack asked, generally curious but also a little teasing.

 

 

“No.” Mark gave a small chuckle. “Giant humanoid aliens weren’t the first to come to mind. But I did know there were some species bigger than humans- you guys are just by far the biggest.”

 

 

“Technically you're the alien. You came to my planet, remember?” Jack tried to look at Mark, but it proved to be impossible with his position on his shoulder, so he quickly gave up.

 

 

“Hey, I didn’t mean to invade.” Mark put up one hand in mock surrender, keeping the other tightly around Jack’s collar. “Your planet is the one that made the first move, thank you very much.”

 

 

Jack laughed. “Excuses, excuses.” Jack took the map back out, looking it over before putting it away again. They still had quite the ways to go, but they seemed to be heading in the right direction.

“Ya know, I never mentioned it before, but ya kind of remind me of the borrowers. Other than the whole space and alien thing. Do you know what that is?” Jack asked, wondering if they’re planets had that in common. It was strange to think just how similar their planets were, yet so different.

 

 

“Wait, borrowers?” Mark raised an eyebrow. “Like those children’s book characters?”

 

 

Jack’s face lit up. “Yeah! Exactly! So you  _ do _ know what I’m talking about.”

 

 

“Yeah, except I’m not scrounging around in your walls looking for scraps.” Mark replied, not mentioning that he probably would have tried to do something just like that if Jack hadn’t spotted him in the first place. “Clearly I’m just a little bit cooler than a borrower.”

 

 

“I don’t know, the borrowers are pretty cool. Although I guess they don’t have the whole alien thing going for them.”Jack joked, but then paused. “Or do they?” 

 

 

“OooOooh.” Mark made a mystery noise, pretending to be shocked. “Maybe humans on Bossatron were the true borrowers all along, and we’ve slowly been invading your homes without your knowledge. The government’s only form of propaganda against this is a few children’s books to warn you, but none of you took them seriously…”

 

 

“Shut up,” Jack laughed. “Based on your reaction when you first saw me, and all your questions after, I doubt any of that is true.” 

“That’s just what I wanted you to think.” Mark waggled his eyebrows in a silly manner. “It’s all part of the brainwashing. Soon we will take over this giant planet.”

 

 

“Oh no!” Jack said in a very fake tone of fear. He then whispered. “I’m safe though, right?”

 

 

“Well that’s why I’m here.” Mark said, giving Jack’s neck a friendly nudge. “I’m supposed to judge if you’re worth keeping around.”

 

 

“What? Like a pet? I don’t think so,” Jack laughed. 

 

 

Mark froze up at the word ‘pet’, muscles suddenly tensing. His body became rigid and he seemed no longer in control of his motions. One line kept replaying in his mind:  _ Pets don’t speak. Pets don’t speak. _

 

 

When Mark was silent, Jack raised an eyebrow in his direction, though he still couldn’t see him. “Mark?”

 

 

Mark shook himself, trying to rid his head of the mix between memories and nightmares. 

“Yeah, yeah.” Mark commented absentmindedly, forgetting what they had been talking about.

 

 

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed at Mark’s tone and he reached a hand over to his shoulder. Poking him gently. “Ya sure?”

 

 

Mark took a deep breath, staying still as Jack poked him. He wasn’t sure if he was grateful for the contact or annoyed at the reminder, remembering being grabbed and prodded and trapped.

“How much farther?” Mark asked, steering the conversation away from himself.

 

 

Jack’s hand lowered and he frowned, but took out the map. “We should be there in about a half hour, maybe less depending on how fast I walk.”

 

“Okay.” The waiting was starting to get to Mark. He had no idea what lay ahead, and that worried him immensely. “Jack, how are we going to pull this off? We have no idea what to expect or what we’re even doing.”

 

 

Jack bit his lip. “Well…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, this might sound bad. But when we were watching the footage I recognized the uniforms they were wearing. I think-I think I work for them.”

 

Mark’s eyes went as wide as dinner plates. “You  _ WORK  _ for them? The same people who just broke into your home and possibly killed some of my friends, taking the rest prisoner?”

 

Jack winced. “I’m just a coder for their website! They’re supposed to be a company that helps creatures. Obviously that’s all a ruse.” Jack glared off to the side, anger boiling.

 

 

“You don’t seem to know the people you work for very well.” Mark pointed out, suspicious that an employee could truly be so ignorant. Mark thought back to the box of traps and cages Jack had picked up for ‘work’. Was Jack even telling the truth about his job? If so, what was a website creator doing with a bunch of traps for creatures?

 

 

Jack shrugged. “I applied online for it, even had the interview online. It paid well and it wasn’t too hard so I took it, no questions. In hindsight I should have asked some.” 

 

 

“But if you’re a website designer, why did you need to pick up that package?” Mark raised an eyebrow, believing he had caught Jack in a lie.

 

 

“Oh!” Jack had forgotten all about that. “Right, a little before you came I actually got a promotion. They wanted me to test some stuff out. Not sure what though, never got a chance to look before all the crazy stuff happened.”

 

Mark rolled his eyes, glad that Jack couldn’t see him. “Sure, Jack.” Mark replied, not believing him. There was something about the whole story that made the it seem fishy. Mark just hoped he could trust Jack enough to help rescue his team.


	23. He's Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark and Jack split up to try and find the team. (Scooby Doo trained us for this day.)

Jack really hated heights. If he knew the building was going to be on a cliff and the only way to sneak in was to walk on said cliff, he would have seriously reconsidered this whole thing.

 

Or at the very least have come up with a better plan.

 

He was slowly but surely inching his way across the ledge. He was biting his lip hard as he tried his best not to look down. He could feel Mark on his shoulder, gripping onto his shirt tight.

 

 

“Jack, it’s okay.” Mark tried to ease his friend, not looking down either. “Trust me, this is what everything feels like for me, and I’m fine.”

 

 

“If this is what it always feels like for you than I am so sorry.” Jack said in a slightly higher octave. He looked to his right as saw he was about halfway to the open window. He took a deep breath and continued on.

 

He yelped in fear when his foot slid off the edge for a moment and he almost lost his balance. He righted himself quickly and gripped the wall behind him as best he could.

 

 

“Careful!” Mark hissed through clenched teeth, death gripping Jack’s collar. “I’m here too, and I don’t want to fall any more than you do.”

 

 

“I’m trying here!” Jack stage whispered. He continued on the path, though a lot slower than when he started. Finally, after what seemed like forever, he made it to the window. He wanted to climb right on in and off this stupidly high ledge, but paused to lean and glance inside.

 

It was a room with many tables and chairs scattered around. A vending machine was on either side of the wall and a small kitchen was in the corner. Jack figured this was the breakroom.

 

But most importantly, it was empty.

 

Jack wasted no time climbing through the window. He sighed in relief and sunk down to the floor. “Let’s never do that again. Please.”

 

 

“Sure thing.” Mark agreed, not wanting to point out that they would probably have to go back along the edge to get out of here. He looked around the room, only to see a vent halfway towards the ceiling. It gave him an idea.

“Hey Jack, can you boost me up to that vent?” Mark pointed at it. “I can go in unseen and see if the way is clear. Maybe I’ll even find the team.”

 

 

Jack stood back up and looked to where Mark was pointing, seeing the vent. He really didn't want Mark to go alone in a place like this. They might never find each other again, or worse, Mark could be captured without his knowledge. 

 

“I don’t know. Do you really think it’s a good idea to split up? Have you  _ seen _ Scooby Doo?” Well, maybe not, Jack was about to find out. He kept forgetting Mark wasn’t from here.

 

 

“Oh please, they all turn out fine in the end.” Mark laughed. “And they catch the ghost who ends up being some annoyed rich white guy. Besides, if we split up we’ll cover more ground. And the sooner we get the team, the sooner we can get out of here.”

 

Jack groaned and then sighed in defeat. “Alright, fine. But, just, try to stay in the vents and away from any agents. We don’t need you being captured too.” Jack grabbed a chair and scooted it so he could reach the vent. After taking the front off, he let Mark climb inside.

 

“Yes mom, i’ll be safe.” Mark rolled his eyes, climbing off Jack’s hand and into the vent. He began to walk down the dark metal corridor, listening to his quiet footsteps echo back at him softly. It was a good thing Mark wasn’t scared of the dark as the vent was pitch-black, save for the light coming from the entrance behind him. It was unlit, almost like a ventilation system wasn’t meant to be a walkway. 

 

Jack really didn’t want to leave in fear of Mark coming back and not finding him, but he also didn’t want to stay in the break room where anyone could come in at any time and catch him. So, with great hesitation, Jack opened the door and peeked outside. The halls were thankfully empty and he slipped past the door and into the hall.

 

He looked from his right to his left, having no idea on which way he should go. He played a quick game of eeney meeney miney mo and then turned right, making sure he was paying attention to his surroundings.

 

Mark continued walking through the vents, keeping his shoulder pressed to the right wall. He heard voices and other sounds all around him, but it was hard to distinguish anything in particular. Mark saw a light up ahead, and he approached the next vent exit slowly. Looking down through the bars, Mark saw what looked to be a lab.

 

“The ships.” Mark breathed, looking down and seeing both his own wreckage and the team’s on the table. A man was tinkering away at them, curiously poking at the engines. No one else seemed to be present, and a quick look around told Mark that his team wasn’t here.

 

Mark tiptoed past this opening, continuing down the shaft.

 

Jack continued down the hallways, surprised he hadn’t run into anyone yet. Not to say he wasn’t thankful of course, the last thing he needed was to get caught. He rounded the next corner after checking and continued down the white walled hallway.

 

It was then that he heard footsteps and soft voices coming from behind him. He turned and saw two agents just now rounding the corner. Panicking, Jack sprinted the the next corner and turned before the agents could see him. He sighed in relief, only for that relief to be short lived as he felt himself run into someone. He fell to the floor with a loud thud and looked up into the faces of two confused agents.

 

“Um...Hi?”

 

\----------------------

 

Mark passed a few more openings with no luck, but he knew he hit the jackpot when he overheard something about “little visitors.” Creeping slowly forwards, Mark gazed into a room that looked to be an executive office. A sinister looking man was staring out a large window behind his desk,standing near the vent with his back turned to a nervous looking guy standing awkwardly on the other side of the room. 

“Mr. Mason, this is about the little visitors.” The nervous guy spoke up, wearing a nametag that read ‘Jason’. “You see, for one thing, there was a bit of an incident with the surveillance drone.”

 

Mason groaned and turned to look at Jason. “Seriously. What now?!” He shouted angrily. He did not need stuff to go wrong right now.

 

“Well, Sam was kind of destroyed by the homeowner.” Jason flinched at his superior’s tone. Mark frowned. Were they talking about Jack? “And unfortunately sir, reviewing the last footage, there seemed to be one uh, tiny person left behind. I compared it to the original footage, and I believe it’s the same one that we first spotted.”

Mark crouched down, now even more nervous at the idea of being spotted.

 

“You’re telling me that you left one behind. Not only that, but the one I told you to get in the first place!” He slammed his fist against the desk and sighed. “You’re lucky there ended up being more of them.” He adjusted his glasses and fixed his tie from his outburst.

 

“Do you have any information on where it’s located. We cannot afford to leave any out there and have word get around that these things exist. At least not yet.” He muttered the last bit.

 

 

Mark pondered Mr. Mason words, wondering what he was up to.  _ Not yet?  _ What plan did this guy have for him and his friends?

 

“Well, I do have a theory.” Jason informed him, adjusting his shirt sleeves. “Based on the timing, I think my team failed to get this little guy because he left the house with the homeowner. In fact, the homeowner only destroyed Sam when it tried to capture the tiny man.” 

 

 

“Did he now.” Mason pondered. “Interesting.” He turned to look back out his window and smile appearing on his face.

 

“Well, I think that just about proves it then.” He said it more to himself, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. 

 

“Exactly.” Jason grinned as Mr. Mason seemed to catch on. “If we can find the homeowner, the last little visitor won’t be far away. Jack seems to be way too attached to the little guy to let him out of his sight.”

Mark shifted a bit uncomfortably, knowing these two villains were right. How long had Jack ever left Mark alone? Maybe an hour tops, and he knew where Mark was at all times. Heck, Mark even slept less than a dozen feet away from the guy. 

 

 

“And that,” Mason turned around, “is how we know my plan will work!” He leaned his hands against the desk.

 

“If this Jack is this attached to the thing after only a few days, well, think about the kind of profit these ‘tiny people’ could get us.”

 

“Uh, I’m lost sir.” Jason admitted, clearly confused. 

 

Mason rolled his eyes. “Of course you are, you always are.” He acted annoyed, but really he had been holding in his plan for far too long. Of course, telling Jason all of it would be idiotic on his end, but he could at least get Jason on the same page.

 

“I’m talking about,” he paused. “Pets.”

 

Mark froze, hands trembling as he tried to collect himself.  _ Pets?  _ **_Pets?!_ **

“He’s trying to make us pets.” Mark whispered in realization. His mind flew back to Jack’s angry face and being tossed in a glass for the night.  _ Pets don’t speak. _

_ “Won’t Jack be thrilled.”  _ Mark shook that mean thought out of his head. Still, it wasn’t wrong. Isn’t this what Jack had expected? Maybe Jack just viewed himself as a benevolent pet owner all along. After all, it was clearly on his mind. Why didn’t Jack ever let him out of sight? 

Mark bit back a groan, feeling anxiety roll over him in waves. He had to get his friends out of here before they suffered such a fate.

 

“Pets?” Jason tilted his head, clearly not catching on. 

 

Before Mason could elaborate for his poor and stupid second in command--really, he might need to change that--his door suddenly burst open.

 

“Sir, we found this trespasser roaming around the north sector.” Two agents entered his office, flanking Jack. Mark’s eyes widened at the sight of his captured friend.

“Jack!” Mark exclaimed in surprise, standing up and accidentally pounding against the bars in his haste, causing them to ring. Mark froze, hoping none of the giants below had heard his little racket. 

 

Mason was surprised to see Jack there, but before he could think about that too much he heard a faint noise coming from the vent. Everyone else seemed to freeze as well, also hearing the noise. Jack’s eyes widened.

 

“Jason, the vent.” He commanded.

 

Jason immediately rushed over and removed the vent cover. Mark nervously gulped, before sprinting as fast as he could in the opposite direction. It wasn’t fast enough. Mark let out a startled shriek when he was suddenly dragged backwards by his right leg, being scraped across the metal floor in the process. 

 

“Woah.” Jason said in awe, pulling out Mark so that he was dangling by one leg out in the open. 

 

Jack’s eyes widened when he saw Jason bring out Mark by his leg and couldn’t stop himself from shouting. “Hey! Let him go, he’s mine!”

 

Mason turned his attention away from the struggling tiny and smirked over at Jack. “Oh?”

 


	24. Jack Gets a Promotion!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...and Mark isn't happy about it.

Mark tried to focus as the blood rushed to his head, still being held upside-down. Did Jack really say that Mark was ‘his’? As if Jack...owned him? Like a pet? Mark shuddered at the thought.

Mason smirked and walked over to Jack. “You really care about the thing, huh?” Jack blinked, but nodded. Mason’s smirk grew, oh he could definitely work with this.

“Then how about I cut you a little deal?” He snapped his fingers. “Jason!” He held out his hand, palm up in his direction.

“Yes sir.” A little reluctantly, Jason lowered Mark into Mr. Mason’s open and waiting palm. Mark quickly sat upright, looking around to see if there was any way of escape. Despite being carried several times by Jack, this was different. Mark could feel the hatred practically oozing from the surface of Mason’s skin.

Mason closed his hand around the tiny man, locking him in a fist. All the while, never taking his eyes off Jack. Jack was fuming, but waited for him to speak more.

“Join us.” Jack was taken aback.

“What?” Mason turned, hands now behind his back with little regard to the tiny man inside them.

“Think of this as another promotion. We could always use more help with this plan and it would mean we wouldn’t have to worry about you anymore. And before you get into the whole ‘what’s in it for me’ thing,” he turned back around and held out the hand holding the tiny man out towards Jack. “I’ll let you keep your little pet here. He’ll be all yours and we’ll even provide things to help you care for it. What do you say?”

Mark struggled against Mason’s grip with all his might, but it was no use. The fingers didn’t budge an inch. He tried to meet Jack’s eyes, but Jack wasn’t looking at him. Was Jack seriously considering joining the people who kidnapped his friends, with the reward being keeping Mark as a pet? The thought made Mark struggle with renewed vigor, but still his actions had no effect.

Jack bit his lip. “You won’t try and take him away?” He asked, wanting clarification. Mason nodded, his smirk getting bigger. Jack hesitated a second longer before nodding.

“Okay.”

“What?” Mark asked angrily, but he let out a little gasp as Mason squeezed him tightly, silencing him.

Mason smiled welcomingly. “Welcome aboard Jack, glad to have you with us.” Jack gave a small smile.

“Er, you can call me Sean.” Mason blinked, but continued to smile.

“Of course, Sean. Now we’ll go ahead and prepare a room for you in the building. You’ll be staying here until the plan is fully reached, sound good? If you need anything from home I can send some agents to fetch it for you.” Sean nodded.

“That’s fine.” He looked down at Mark, still wrapped in Mason’s hands. “Er, can I…?” Mason looked down.

“Oh yes, sure. He is all yours now after all.” Mason dropped Mark into Sean’s awaiting palm.

Mark tried to glare up at ‘Sean’s face, but once again Sean refused to look at him. Mark hated that he couldn’t do anything to Sean without endangering himself, but Mark was certainly tempted to bite Sean’s fingers as hard as he could. What was this whole ‘Sean’ thing about, anyways? Was Jack really lying to him this whole time?

“Would you like to see your room, Sean?” One of the agents who escorted him in asked, turning to Sean with a smile.

Sean smiled back. “Yeah, that would be great.” He turned back to Mason. “Thank you,” Mason smiled.

“Not a problem. I’ll send you a schedule for when food is served as well as a list of responsibilities I’ll be wanting you to take care of. Get some sleep tonight, because it’s gonna be a busy day tomorrow.” Sean nodded and started to follow the agent out. Mason stopped them one more time, this time addressing the agent.

“Make sure the room is stocked with a carrier so Sean can put his pet inside, will you?” And with that, Sean and the agent left.

Mark tried to see into the rooms as Sean walked past, hoping to see a glimpse of his team. No such luck. All he could see were men and women wearing the same grey uniforms, doing whatever evil stuff henchmen do. What kind of a place was this, anyways?

“Here we are.” The agent said, opening up door number 271.  A second agent had already outfitted the room with everything Mr. Mason requested. “If you have any questions, just speak out loud.” The agent smiled and pointed to the upper corner at a little device. “We’ll be keeping an eye and ear on you just for your convenience.”

Sean glanced in the corner and nodded. “Cool, thanks for showing me the way.” He said his goodbyes to the agent and closed the door. He looked around the room for a moment before taking a seat on the bed. He finally looked down at Mark.

“Oh, now you’ll look at me?” Mark glared up at Sean. “I thought you were above that now. You certainly were acting like it back there.”

Sean bit his lip and looked off to the side. “I still care about you.” He said, bringing his hands just a little closer together.

“Don’t give me this crap, _Sean._ ” Mark emphasized the new name. “You care about me like a little abandoned puppy you found in the backyard.”

Sean winced at how Mark said his name. “You can still call me Jack if you want.” Sean stated, ignoring Mark’s latter comment.

“Oh, I can?” Mark pretended to act shocked. “Wow! How generous of you. Man, I have the best... _owner_.” It felt weird to call Sean his owner, even sarcastically. “Oh but wait, I thought pets don’t speak?” Mark raised an eyebrow, shutting his mouth and giving Sean the silent treatment.

Sean sighed. “Fine, act this way now. But eventually you’ll figure out this is all for your own sake.” Sean reached over and placed Mark in the carrier before closing and locking it. He then shut off the lights and huddled himself deep into the covers.

“Goodnight Mark.”

Mark huffed, trying to get comfortable on the cold floor of the carrier. There were no blankets or pillows to make it more bearable. Mark tossed and turned, attempting to find a position he could actually sleep in. After what seemed like an eternity, Mark drifted off into an uneasy sleep.

 

\------------------

 

_“SAVE US!” Mark covered his ears as the sounds of his friend’s cries suddenly surrounded him, louder than before. He could only look on helplessly to see the team trapped in cages, wearing little shock collars. Amy screamed as hers went off, causing her body to twitch in an unnatural manner._

_“I’m coming!” Mark yelled, trying to run to them but getting nowhere. Only then did he notice he was dangling in the air, held only by the back of his shirt. Turning around, Mark found himself facing a malicious-looking Sean._

_“Let me go!” Mark struggled against his grip, trying to get free. This only caused Sean’s sinister grin to grow._

_“Pets don’t speak.” Sean cackled, tossing Mark straight up in the air. Mark screamed._

 

\----------------------

 

Jack buried himself deeper into his covers, staring at the wall hard. He grit his teeth at the sounds of Mark’s pain, knowing he couldn’t provide any real comfort without giving himself away. It took everything in him to stay where he was.

He had thought of the plan because of an accident.

He was never good under pressure and his words would come out a bit jumbled. He had meant to say, when he saw Mark in Jason’s hands, to let him go, he was his _friend_ . But of course, he messed up and it came out like Jack was calling Mark _his_. Which he really didn’t mean, but then Mason took it that way and offered him the deal and Jack saw it as an opportunity to not only get Mark back, but to find Mark’s friends.

As for the name? Well, only his close friends and family called him Jack.

He knew it was a good plan, really the only plan they had. But Jack was beginning to regret it, for the sole purpose of not being able to tell Mark. The nightmare he was having was most likely about _him_ anyway. He hated it and the memories it was bringing up, but he had to run with it. Eventually he would get a chance to tell Mark.

He just hoped it wouldn’t be too late by then.

 

\-------------------------

 

Mark woke up with a startled gasp, still feeling like he was in freefall.

“It was just a dream.” Mark whispered to himself, rubbing at his arms to try and calm himself down. “It was just a nightmare.” Although as Mark began to look around at the cage he was trapped in, the nightmare felt like it was quickly becoming real. Mark couldn’t hold back a few sobs, still lost in the fear of his dreams.

Jack shifted a bit and glanced in Mark’s direction. He was definitely awake now and crying. Jack didn’t have the heart to leave him like that. He had to do something!

“Stop crying Mark, we both need sleep.” He said as if he was annoyed. He mentally winced at his own tone, feeling incredibly bad.

“Screw you.” Mark’s voice was muffled as he pressed his face into his knees. Frankly, he didn’t care if his crying kept Sean up. Sean deserved much worse.

Jack sighed and then remembered what the agent had said before leaving them alone. He sat up in bed and cleared his throat, giving it a try.

“Can I get some water?” He felt like an idiot, talking to nothing.

There was silence for a few minutes, before an agent came in holding a small glass of water.

“Sorry for the wait, Mr. Sean.” The agent said, setting the glass next to Mark’s carrier. “Do you need anything else?”

“Ah, no that will be it. Thank you.” He didn’t move until the agent was gone and then reached over and grabbed the glass. He took a few sips and then glanced at Mark.

“You should probably drink some water too.” Jack said, nonchalantly. Trying to not give away the fact that the water was for Mark in the first place. He opened the carrier and placed the glass inside, figuring the glass was small enough for Mark to reach the top and get some for himself.

 Mark raised an eyebrow, wiping at his eyes as he approached the cup that just came up to his waist. He didn’t want to listen to Sean, but his throat was parched. After checking to make sure Sean wasn’t watching him, Mark carefully scooped some up in his hands and took a few generous gulps.

Mark stopped, suddenly realizing that this felt like drinking out of a water bowl for a pet. Filled with rage, Mark refused to drink any more. In fact, Mark dragged the cup over to the edge of the cage. Giving it a firm shove with his shoulder, he poured out the rest of the water and watched it fall through the bars and down to the floor below.

“Mark!” Jack yelped in surprise. He reached in and grabbed the glass, setting it down next to the carrier. He looked at the water dripping off the table and into a small puddle on the floor and sighed.

“Can I get a towel please?” He called out again to the open air.

Mark grinned, watching as another agent rushed in holding a towel. The agent handed it to Sean with a small bow before leaving.

Jack gave a thankful smile to the agent as he left and then began to clean up the spilt water. He sent Mark an annoyed glare, but was really more confused than anything.

“What the heck, dude?”

“I’m not thirsty.” Mark lied, looking very pleased with himself as he stood defiantly with his arms crossed.

Jack sighed, knowing he deserved this for his terrible plan. He finished cleaning up and then aired out the towel a bit. It was a big enough towel that most of it was still dry.Trying to put on his best annoyed face, he raised an eyebrow at Mark’s comment and then dumped the towel on him before locking the carrier back up.

Mark gave a startled ‘oof!’ as he was suddenly covered in the large volume of fabric. Mark was about to yell at Sean for tossing it at him when he was struck with an idea. Feeling the fabric, it was actually quite soft for a towel. Mark took the towel and laid it across the floor, letting it bunch up at one end. Pulling the excess towel over him, Mark was able to use it as both a blanket and a pillow. Mark gave a happy sigh, not realizing how cold he’d been.

Jack hid a smile behind his covers, glad that Mark was comfortable now at least. He yawned and burrowed into his pillow.

“Night.” He called out, almost on instinct.

“Night.” Mark called back, already drifting off to sleep and for a moment forgetting he was mad at Sean.


	25. Breakfast with the big kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack eats breakfast in the cafeteria and Mark wishes they were anywhere else.

 

Jack felt himself wake and stretched out his limbs. He opened his eyes and was confused for a second on where he was. The memories from the day before flashed in his mind and he let his head fall back on his pillow with a groan. Another day of acting like he was the bad guy.

 

He sat back up and looked toward the cage. He just barely saw Mark under the towel, but he looked to still be asleep. He threw his legs over the side of the bed and leaned in close before tapping the glass.

 

“Mark?”

 

 

Mark cringed as a loud sound woke him from his slumber. Looking up at Jack staring at him through the glass, Mark groaned and rolled over, covering his head up with the towel.

 

 

“Wakey, wakey Mark. We should probably get something to eat.” He honestly couldn’t remember the last time either of them ate. Though, it was probably breakfast yesterday. Speaking of, where were they supposed to go for breakfast?

 

“Um, where do we get food?” He called out to the empty room.

 

 

“Good morning, Sean.” An agent greeted him, opening the door a moment later. “Breakfast is served in the dining hall. Are you ready to go? I can escort you there now, if you’d like.”

 

 

“Oh! Um…” He turned to Mark’s cage before sending a smile toward the agent. “Yeah, just give me a sec. Could you wait outside?” Jack asked, hoping he wasn’t being too pushy.

 

 

“Of course.” The agent gave a small nod, leaving the two alone once more.

 

 

“Thanks!” He called out as the agent left and Jack turned towards Mark, wondering how this was gonna work with how they stood at the moment.

 

“So…” he paused. “Hungry?”

 

 

“No.” Mark replied gruffly. A moment later, his stomach growled very loudly.

 

 

Jack chuckled. “Your stomach seems to be telling ya different. Come on Mark, we both haven’t eaten since yesterday. We need food.” Jack said, trying to convince Mark. He didn’t want to have to force Mark to come, but he would.

 

 

Mark continued to ignore him, instead curling up a little and hoping his stomach would be quieter.

 

 

Jack sighed and mentally apologized to Mark before opening the cage and wrapping his hand around him. He lifted him up into a loose fist and brought him to chest level. He tried keeping the sad look off his face, making it seem more annoyed. He really hated this.

 

“Sorry Mark, but that wasn’t a choice.” He kept Mark against his chest and opened the door. He noticed the agent waiting for him on the right.

 

“Thanks for waiting. I’m ready.”

 

 

Mark struggled briefly before deciding there was no use. Instead, he sighed and let himself be embarrassed at his own inability to starve himself. Mark hung limply in Jack’s hands, deciding that if he couldn’t struggle his way out he could at least be uncooperative and act like a useless doll.

 

 

Jack was led into a massive cafeteria that reminded him too much of high school. The agent left after pointing out the line for food and Jack made his way over. He could feel everyone’s stares as he did and held Mark just a bit closer. It was kind of unnerving having all these people know about Mark.

 

He got in line and looked ahead to see the selection. His eyes widened at the amount of choices given. Ranging from cereal to pancakes. He glanced down at Mark, wondering if he would even answer the question. 

 

“What are ya hungry for?”

 

 

Mark stayed limp, giving Jack no reaction.

 

 

Jack sighed, figuring as much. When it was his turn he ignored the looks the lady was sending toward Mark and asked for a couple of pancakes, knowing Mark liked that, and some coffee. Jack looked from the tray to Mark before setting Mark on top of it and picking up the tray. He moved around, trying to find a seat that no one else was sitting at. He really didn’t want to deal with any questions or stares from these agents.

 

Finally finding an empty table in the corner of the room, he sat down.

 

 

Despite hiding in the back of the room, the whispers and stares followed him. Being both the new guy and carrying around Mark made the other agents very interested in him.

  
  


“Did you see that? In his hands?”

 

“I heard the rumors, but I never thought it was that small.”

 

“Blech, why is it allowed so close to his food? That’s disgusting.”

 

“Aww, it’s kind of cute.” 

 

Mark rubbed his arms nervously, not liking being out in the open as he could clearly hear these giant strangers talking about him. He looked around for a moment before quickly staring down at the tray beneath him. The sight of over twenty giants staring right at him was too much. Mark hadn’t even been out in the open near anyone but Sean until yesterday, and that ended with Mark kept in a cage. 

 

“Do you think the new guy would let me hold it?”

 

“Hey, why is it’s face turning red?”

 

Mark was stuck somewhere between being mortified and scared out of his wits. He pulled his legs close to his chest and put his head down, wishing he could become even smaller and disappear completely. 

 

 

Jack tried his best to ignore all the comments but it was proving to be hard. He himself wasn’t too bothered by it, but Mark was. And he understood why. They needed to eat and get out of there as soon as possible. He pulled out a napkin and cut off a piece of pancake, setting it down near Mark. 

 

“Eat up.” Jack said, adding a little blob of syrup on the piece of pancake. He hoped Mark would just listen and eat.

 

 

Mark pulled himself into a tighter ball, ignoring Sean’s offering. But when his stomach gave another loud growl, Mark glanced up to see if Sean was looking before quickly grabbing the pancake bit and holding it to his chest as if trying to hide it. Mark began to take a few bites of the food, but continued to ignore the syrup due to it serving as a painful reminder.

 

Jack gave a small smile when he noticed Mark eating out of the corner of his eye. He also took note of the way he avoided the syrup but didn’t say anything. He started on his own pancakes, trying to be quick with eating them. He was so focused on finishing fast that he didn’t notice the stranger until he spoke up.

 

“Hey, you’re Sean, right?” Jack jumped, almost stabbing himself in the mouth with the fork. He turned around to see a man about his age with short blondish hair. He put his fork down and tried to discreetly place his arm in front of Mark.

 

“Um, yeah. That’s me.”

 

 

Mark looked up at the newcomer suspiciously, chewing on his pancake more slowly. 

 

 

“I’m Robin. I’m the main engineer around here.” He motioned around him before his eyes fell onto Mark. His eyebrows furrowed a bit in confusion. That hadn’t been one of the tiny people he helped with the other day.

 

“I heard from Mr. Mason that you just joined us and that you were the one who found the alien ship.” Robin said, glancing at Sean before looking back at Mark. It was really hard to not stare.

 

 

Mark glared back at Robin, trying to mask his fear with anger. Robin was far too close for Mark’s liking. Although to be fair, backstabbing Sean was too close for Mark’s liking as well given recent events. He put down his pancake, suddenly to nervous to eat.

 

 

“Uh, yeah, I guess that was technically me.” Jack rubbed the back of his neck, but his eyes widened a little when the rest of the sentence caught up with him.

 

“Wait, do you know where the ships are?” Jack asked and Robin nodded.

 

“Yeah, it’s my job to reverse engineer them. I think Mr. Mason wants to build our own ship, though for what I’m not sure.” Robin shrugged. Jack wilted, having an idea. Robin looked back at Mark.

 

“So, this is one of the aliens? Have you had him the whole time?” Robin, of course, knew this tiny person hadn’t been with the others so it was highly likely.

 

Jack glanced between Mark, who looked very uncomfortable, and back to Robin. “Um, yeah.” he stated simply.

 

 

“Mr. Sean?” Another agent came over and joined the two, looking better dressed than Robin. He glared at the engineer. “Mr. Mason would like to see you in his office.”

 

 

Jack looked at the new agent. “Oh! Uh, right.” He stood and scooped Mark up. “Bye Robin, it was nice talking to you.” He followed the agent as he led the way to Mr. Mason’s office. As they walked, he looked down at Mark to see how he was faring.

 

 

Mark was not faring well. He cowered in Sean’s hands until they were out of sight and earshot of the cafeteria. 

“Screw that.” Mark muttered, sending a backwards glance down the hall. His stomach was twisted in painful knots from the adrenaline left in his veins, not to mention the fear of what Robin had said. Was Mr. Mason planning on using a spaceship to collect more humans to treat as little pets? Did Sean help plan this all along?

 

 

Jack just barely caught the mutter and silently agreed with him. Though he had to admit that Robin didn’t seem that bad. In fact, compared to the other agents he was actually quiet pleasant.

 

They finally reached the door, the agent stepping aside for them to enter. Jack nodded his head in thanks and entered the room. The first thing he noticed was Mr. Mason staring out his window at the opposite end of the room.

 

“Ah, Sean. Good morning.” Mason said as he turned to face him. His eyes briefly went to the tiny man in his hands before focusing back on him. He came closer, hands behind his back.

 

“Did you sleep well?” Jack nodded, though thanks to the camera, Mason probably knew that already. Mason hummed and looked down at Mark.

 

“And how is...er, what was its name again?” Mason asked, still smiling. He had brought a hand over to the tiny alien, giving it a rough poke in the side. Jack mentally winced, but didn’t pull away in fear of blowing his cover.

 

“Mark.” He stated simply and Mason nodded, as if it rang a bell. 

 

“Ah, right.” He smirked down at Mark.

 

 

Mark rubbed at the sore spot where he was prodded, sticking his tongue out at Mr. Mason in defiance. 

 

 

Mason raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything, instead he went back over to his desk to lean against it.

 

“I’m sending you over to Signe to check over Mark. We want to make sure he isn’t carrying any diseases or whatnot.” He took a few papers off his desk and handed it to Sean. 

 

“Here’s a map of the facility and the room number where you can find her.” Jack took the papers in his free hand.

 

“I want to see you back here when she’s done. Got it?” Jack nodded, absently holding Mark a bit closer. Mason smiled.

 

“Good, now get going. She’s waiting for you.” Jack nodded and started walking to where the map said to go.

 


	26. Check Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mark gets a check up and Jack thinks the 'vet' is pretty.

 “Gee, it’s amazing that he trusted you with a map.” Mark commented sarcastically, watching Sean try to follow the map. Mark was perfectly fine being mean to Sean now that the two were alone in the halls. “You know, because you’ve always proven to be so trustworthy. I can’t think of a single time when you decided to enslave a new friend as your own personal pocket puppy. Oh wait, I’m thinking of a different Sean.”

 

 Jack winced at Mark’s words as he continued to try and figure the map out. He was pretty sure they were going the right way. He glanced down at Mark and the look of anger and fear he was being given just about broke his heart. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to tell him the truth.

 “Mark, listen I…” He trailed off when he rounded the corner and noticed a camera. He sighed, now wasn’t the time to tell him. He had to wait for when they were  _ really _ alone.

 

 “You what?” Mark crossed his arms. Mark was sure it was some sort of apology, as if words could make Mark forgive Sean now.  “Go on, finish that sentence. What could you possibly say to deny it?” Mark shook his head. “I never should have trusted you in the first place.”

 

 Well, that hurt. Jack sighed. “I know you hate me right now, but this is for the best. Please understand.” He sent Mark a pleading look, trying to tell Mark his plan with his eyes. 

 

 Mark raised an eyebrow, looking up at Sean. He really sounded sad for a moment there. Mark considered this for a moment, and realized he too would be sad if his pet dog Chica stopped loving him. Of course, Chica wasn’t a tiny version of his own species that was intelligent and deserving of free will.

 “Don’t act like you know better than me.” Mark huffed. “I know what you’re up to, Sean.”

 

_  I don’t really think you do _ , Jack thought sadly to himself. He continued on his way and finally made it to where he was supposed to meet this Signe girl. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

 

 “Just a moment!” There was a large shuffling noise on the other side of the door before a girl wearing a lab coat poked her head out, looking frazzled. 

 “Oh!” She exclaimed, opening the door farther at the sight of Mark in his hands. “You must be Sean. I’m Signe.” She stuck her hand out. 

 Jack just stared at her for a moment, before realizing she was offering him a handshake. He smiled and gripped her hand with his own.

 “Hi, I’m Jack, I mean Sean, I mean you already knew that already. Um...Nice to meet you.” He let go and bit his lip. Now was not the time to be frazzled.

 She was really pretty though.

 

 “Nice to meet you, too.” Signe smiled at him, shyly tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “So, um, what can I do for you?”

 

 “Oh! Uh, Mr. Mason said he wanted you to check up on Mark?” He held the hand holding the tiny alien up a little.

 

 “Oh, okay.” Signe frowned a little, looking down at Mark. “You’re not hurt too, are you?”

 “Too?” Mark spoke out loud in his surprise. 

 

 “Too?” Jack echoed Mark. “Did you look at others like Mark?” If they found Mark’s team now, that put them a step ahead.

 

 “Oh, yes.” Signe looked unsure if she should say more. “I’m really not sure why Mr. Mason is having me look at the little guys, it’s not like i’m a veterinarian. I’m not even a doctor.” Signe opened the door a little wider. “Well, I guess you should come in then.”

 

 Jack walked in, looking around the room. “If you’re not a doctor than what do ya do around here?” He asked.

 

 “Well, I’m more of an underappreciated secretary.” Signe explained. “I do a lot of tasks to assist the different departments, but officially I take messages for Mr. Mason and file paperwork. It’s about as exciting as you’d think. Oh, you can just put him down on the table here.” Signe cleared an area of her desk of books to make a clear area for Mark.

 

 “Right.” Jack placed Mark on the table. “Going back to the others like Mark, was one of them hurt?” Of course, he already knew that one of them was and that his name was Ethan thanks to Mark, but he needed to know how badly. And to hopefully give Mark a little relief to know his friend was okay.

 

 “Oh yeah, the little blue-haired one.” Signe nodded sadly. “He’s okay now, but he wouldn’t even let me touch him. Now his arm is all bandaged but hopefully healing.”

 

 “That’s good. Um…” He paused, wondering if he should ask or not. “Where are they now?” he asked as nonchalantly as he could.

 

 Signe looked at him, suddenly a little worried. “I’m, uh, not really supposed to tell you. Mr. Mason thought it would be a bad idea to-” She put little air quotes around the next part. “ _ -allow your pet to socialize with the feral specimens. _ ” Her eyes darted to a little blinking camera in the corner.

 

 “Oh, well I guess that makes sense.” He forced himself to say. He couldn’t slip up, Mr. Mason was probably watching them right now.

 “So! Back to Mark, what exactly do you need to do?” Jack asked, briefly admiring Signe before snapping himself out of it. Again, now was not the time.

 

 “Oh I don’t know, probably make sure he’s not immediately dying or something.” Signe shrugged, smiling awkwardly. She walked over to her shelves, seeming to gather supplies at random. “I don’t have any pets. Like I said, this is new to me yet somehow i’m the expert. Do you have any pets at home? Er, besides Mark.”

 

 “Well, I did have a robot named Sam, but ah, I don’t think that’s what you meant.” He gave a bittersweet laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

 

 Signe gave a little laugh too. “No, that’s not really going to help me learn about being a vet.” She put her supplies down next to the clear spot on the desk. When she didn’t see Mark on the table, she shook her head, realizing she must not have given that instruction out loud. “Oh, you can just set Mark on the table here.”

 

 Jack gave her a confused stare. “Um, I did?” He looked towards the table, only now realizing that it was empty.

 “Oh no.” He whispered. “Mark!” He yelled out into the room.

 

 Mark ignored Sean’s yelling, sliding further down the table leg. As soon as the giants stopped paying attention to him, Mark had seized his opportunity and bolted. Burrowing through the mess of papers on the desk Mark made it to the edge and grabbed onto the leg. He had serious burns on his hands from the wood, but Mark didn’t care. Mark looked around, spotting the door was still open on the other side of the room. Perfect- now all he had to do was get there without being seen by two aliens on the lookout specifically for him. 

 “Where did he go?” Signe asked, taking a few steps closer to the desk.

 

 “Don’t move!” Jack yelled. Signe immediately froze. “Sorry, but knowing Mark he’s probably on the floor. We don’t want to step on him.” He scanned the floor, looking for Mark, hoping he hadn’t gotten too far already, or worse. It was then that he noticed the door was still open. Eyes still on the floor, he went and closed it.

 “Okay Signe, I need your help here. Make sure all the exits out of the room are closed, including vents,  _ but _ make sure you keep your eyes on the floor. And your movements slow, got it?”

 

_  Uh oh.  _ Mark groaned silently as he watched the door close. Re-evaluating, there was one vent at floor level and one higher up. They would probably expect him to go for the floor vent, so Mark ruled it out. But, if Mark could make his way undetected up the leaning filing cabinets, he could make it to that higher vent. He’d have to be fast, though. Keeping his steps quiet, Mark stayed as hidden as possible while sprinting his way towards it. Thankfully Signe did not keep a tidy workplace.

 “How would he have gotten on the floor?” Signe asked, crouching down to close the other floor vent. She put up her hand for reference. “And if he was on the floor, he’s only this big. Don’t we only have to worry about exits at that level, then?”

 

 “Climbing, that’s how. Mark’s a really good climber, with or without supplies.” He said, still scanning the floor. “If there is a way to climb, he can get to it. Trust me.”

 

 Mark took a running leap onto the cabinet, grabbing at the drawer handle. He stood on it and used the platform to jump to the next handle, pulling himself up. The vent was almost in sight. 

 “That seems so reckless.” Signe commented, double-checking to make sure the door to the bathroom was completely closed.. “Is there no sort of self-preservation in the little guys?”

 

 “No, I think it’s just Mark.” Jack deadpanned. He glanced around the room again. “Are there any other vents?”

 

 “That one up there, but I can’t reach it well.” Signe admitted, pointing at the vent. 

_  No!  _ Mark screamed in his head, making his way up the cabinet even faster. He was still out of sight of both aliens, and he was so close! Panting, Mark pulled himself up onto the slanted top, now face to face with the vent.

 

 When Signe pointed toward the higher vent, Jack moved closer and not only saw that it was wide open, but that Mark was up there as well. Biting his lip, Jack reached up and closed the vent before Mark could go through, maybe a tad bit to hard.

 

 Mark flinched back as the vent was suddenly slammed shut in his face. He spun angrily on his heel, facing Sean. He had been so close! Mark was about to yell at Sean when Signe suddenly joined them.

 “Oh, how’d you get up there little guy?” Signe reached for Mark. Mark turned a little pale, backing away from the stranger’s hand.

 

 “Wait, no!” Jack said and grabbed Signe’s wrist. He then realized what he was doing and blushed before letting her hand go.

 

 “Oh, sorry.” Signe quickly pulled her hand away, looking embarrassed. 

 

 “It’s okay, I’m sorry too. Here just let me take care of it.” He turned back towards Mark and set his hand down, palm up.

 “Come on Mark, let’s get you down from there.” Jack said, waiting for Mark to climb on himself.

 

 “Open the vent.” Mark glared at Sean, refusing to climb on.

 

 “And if I do? What are ya gonna do? Walk the vents until someone else gets their grubby hands on ya?” Jack sighed, but still kept his hand where it was.

 

 “I’m gonna actually do what I came here to do.” Mark said through gritted teeth, nodding his head towards Signe to show he wasn’t going to say more. “I think someone got distracted along the way.”

 

 “I will grab you.” Jack stated simply and ignoring Mark’s comments. He really hated himself right now, but again, now was not the time to tell Mark. Especially with Signe right here. Though she seemed nice and was very pretty, Jack still wasn’t sure he could trust her.

 

 “Does he usually climb on?” Signe asked, watching as Mark crossed his arms and turned his back to Sean.

 

 “Well, he used to.”  _ When he actually trusted me _ , Jack thought sadly. Seeing as how Mark wasn’t gonna move Jack finally moved his hand and gently wrapped Mark into a fist before moving him down to chest level.

 “I told you.” Jack sighed.

 

 Mark squirmed a little in Sean’s grasp, glaring up at him. 

 

 He moved back to the table and placed Mark on top of it once again. He turned to Signe. “Alright, let's get this check up over with.” 

 

 “Uh, sure.” Signe said, slowly approaching an extremely grouchy Mark. “Okay, uh...are you feeling alright?”

 “I’m feeling a bit peeved at the moment.” Mark glared at Sean still, not breaking eye contact.

 “I, uh, meant physically.” Signe twiddled her fingers. 

 “I’m fine.” Mark turned his angry gaze to her. “Are we done here?”

 “Well, uh…” Signe looked to Sean for help.

 

 Jack sighed. “Mark, seriously. She just wants to help. Be mad at me all you want, but just let her look you over.”

 

 “Could you just walk back and forth a bit?” Signe tried.

 “I’m not going to parade around for you.” Mark rolled his eyes.

 “Then, could I just see your arms?” Signe reached out to grab his limb.

 “Don’t touch me!” Mark yelled, stepping back. Signe flinched, pulling her hand back.

 

 Jack bit his lip before wrapping his hand around Mark’s midsection once again. If he could he would just leave, but Mr. Mason wanted Mark to be checked on so Jack didn’t really have a choice. He had to play the part.

 “There, I’ll hold him still while you look him over.” He told Signe.

 

 “Uh, thanks.” Signe said, looking down at Mark’s struggling form with pity. She carefully lifted Mark’s arm, pretending to know what she was doing. Mark immediately froze at the touch, scared to move and cause her to hurt him. “Okay, looks uh...not broken. Mark, have you felt any unusual symptoms since you came to our planet? Like a fever or something?” 

 “No ma’am.” Mark answered, scared enough to actually act polite.

 “Any rashes, dizziness, or passing out?” Signe continued. 

 “No ma’am.” Mark repeated. 

 “Any strange dreams?” Signe watched Mark’s eyes dart to Sean and then back to her. “It could be a sign of psychological trauma, which in turn could indicate a recent injury, I think.” 

 “No ma’am.” Mark lied, this time hesitating before he said it. 

 “Alright.” Signe finally let go of Mark’s arm, grabbing a clipboard from her desk and writing some random notes down. “I think we’re all set then.”

 

 Jack sighed in relief. “Great. Thank you so much. I think we have to report back to Mr. Mason now.” He kept a hold on Mark, putting him closer to his chest.

 “Um, it  _ was _ really nice to meet you.”

 

 “You too.” Signe gave him a very sweet smile. “Oh, and um, nice to meet you too I guess.” Signe gave Mark a small wave. Mark only rolled his eyes.

 

 “Bye.” Jack waved and left, walking down the halls, trying to remember the way he came from. He glanced down at Mark, checking to see how he was doing after all that.

 

 Mark huffed, slouching down in Sean’s hands and looking for all the world an upset, embarrassed child.


End file.
